The Viral Avenger
by ppg1998
Summary: With the greatest threat of Earth banished to the Negative Zone, the Avengers find a crime has come to a near halt following the defeat of Galactus. A full year passes with no major events, leading some to believe this will be the norm. But when a violent plague overwhelms New York in mere hours, the Avenger will learn that to combat this crisis, a new breed of hero is needed...
1. Prologue

Prologue

Outside of a large, opulent mansion, a random newspaper drifted in the midnight wind and landed near the side of a street lamp, revealing the front page story- One Year Anniversary: Celebration of Avengers Saving the Earth from Galactus. It detailed how a marvelous group of superpowered individuals came together to save their world from unimaginable threats of all kinds- science gone wrong, magic run amok, or cosmic creatures that wished to destroy all life. No matter what person or monster intended to rule or ruin the Earth, it's mightiest heroes were always there to save the day.

As more recruits joined the ranks of the team, larger and more powerful foes arose to combat them. Eventually the aforementioned Galactus- a being of seemingly unstoppable might came to literally consume the world whole. Though the battle against Galactus and his Heralds proved to be the greatest one of all- one for the ages- the Avengers and their allies prevailed, and at that point, all other villains decided to give up. If the team could handle an enemy like that, then no villain saw the point in continuing.

And so for exactly one year… nothing happened; other than common criminals still working in the shadows, the terror of supervillains simply dried up, and thus so did the need for superheroes to fight them. Everyone moved on with their lives, though ever ready to leap back into the fray to battle injustice. But with the continuous lack of a need for them, the heroes grew bored, sluggish… vulnerable.

Thus, on that one year anniversary, exactly at the stroke of midnight, a plan went into motion that would forever change the face of New York, the Avengers, and eventually the rest of the world itself. And moments later, that one team of heroes would be in for a rude awakening to the incoming chaos…

 _Inside the Avenger's Mansion…_

One man, perhaps the most mundane out of the team sleeping there, calmly slept in his bed. The TV across from his bed remained inactive as the man had shut it off before he went to sleep, but soon after the stroke of midnight it turned on again, seemingly of its own accord. Not the product of the supernatural, although that always remained a possibility, but due to the need of a certain organization requiring the sleeping man's attention. Not long after the TV turned on, the face of a dark-skinned man in a blue uniform and eye patch appeared on the screen, and he called out, "Tony? _Tony!_ "

Failing to awaken the sleeping man, the other man took a deep breath and bellowed, "STARK!"

The sleeping man snorted and fumbled out of his bed half-awake, ending up on the floor with a resounding "Thud!", along with some accompanying grumbling. Tony wiped his eyes and mumbled, "Fury? That you? Why are you on my TV? I don't think you or SHIELD are all that newsworthy."

"I don't have time for games, Stark- we have an emergency!", Fury snapped. Tony grumbled again, still largely asleep and not happy about the interruption to his rest. He commented, "What, you lose your favorite eye-patch?"

Fury hurriedly explained, "This is serious, Tony. There's a-"  
Tony assumed, "If it's some new supervillain who thinks he's a hotshot, not worry, my team can-"  
"Will you let me finish?", Fury snapped again. "The whole city is going under quarantine; you and the rest of the Avengers need to evacuate _now_!"

Tony shook his head, wondering if he heard the Director of SHIELD correctly. " _All_ of New York is going into lockdown- a quarantine? I didn't know SHIELD handled that sort of thing."

"We don't", Fury elaborated. "Some new agency for the American government I've never heard of before is handling the situation."

Tony initially went for a pair of pants while Fury spoke, but a few choice words made him stare at the TV screen in silence for a few seconds. He actually chuckled a bit and wondered, "Wait, back up a second. Did I hear right? The great Nick Fury- Director of SHIELD and master of putting his nose into other people's business- _doesn't know something_? That's almost worth getting rudely woken up for."

For the third time Fury harsly told Tony off. "Enough of your snark, Stark, this is serious! People are dying out there!"

That caught Tony's attention, only for a more solemn reason. "People are dying? People are dead already!? _What kind of epidemic is this?_ "

"I don't have many details", Fury admitted, "mainly because the organization in charge of the quarantine won't tell me. But I know some things- it's a virus called 'Blacklight', and the effects are horrifying. Think of gamma radiation that mutates people like the Hulk, only exposure is instantly permanent."  
Fury continued, "Here's what footage my agents were able to recover from various news outlets before they were overrun."

"Overrun?", Tony repeated. He wanted to follow up with, 'By what?", but he received his answer when the footage replaced Fury's face on the screen. Tony watched people- or freaks who used to be people- rampage through parts of the city and attack innocent bystanders; fires raging inside buildings and panic all around, everything about society falling apart before his eyes.

Tony shook his head once again and commented, "And everyone in the mansion was just sleeping through this? I don't believe it. How did this even start?"  
Fury told him when he reappeared on the screen, "The source of the infection appeared around Penn Station, and rumors abound that the virus originated from a genetics firm called 'Gentek'. All sources say they're a harmless pharmaceuticals group that specializes in vaccines, but my gut is telling me that's a lie."  
Annoyed and upset at the devastating news, Tony told Fury, "I… my team isn't made for handling outbreaks. There's no villain to punch out or anything. I don't know what I can do."  
"You can start by evacuating yourself and the rest of your team", Fury repeated. "If that new organization is going to find a cure for this madness, then we'll need the expertise of every scientist we can find to aid them- you, Pym, anyone with a degree in out of control science like this."

Once Tony got the rest of his clothing on, he turned his attention to Fury one last time and asked, "And just who exactly thinks they're going to contain this chaos in the meantime?"  
Fury explained, "Like I said, I know next to nothing about these people…"  
"Which at first made me smile, but now is filling me with anxiety", Tony admitted. Fury finished, "But I know their name at least- they call themselves… 'Blackwatch'."

 _Earlier that day..._

Casually laying in a chair, a young man ate lunch and browsed the Web on his personal laptop. A notification from his sister told him to watch for a special report on the news, and with some dread building up in him, he straightened his posture and waited for the newswoman to give said report. She began with, "Once again, the infamous hacker 'Malware' made a daring attack on a powerful figure in New York City, this time their target being none other than Tony Stark himself, with the cyber-attack occurring inside Stark Tower. Between meddling in data banks and giving both software engineers and technicians severe headaches trying to fix the damage, Malware ended their assault by coming away with a cool one million dollars straight from Mr. Stark's personal bank account. Mr. Stark had this to say."

Right after she said that Mr. Stark appeared on the screen and lamented, "It's not so much the money and research being corrupted that I'm upset about, though antics like those certainly don't do me any good. I'm more irritated by the mere fact that people would do this to me even though I literally helped save the world. On more than one occasion, in fact. I and my team have risked life and limb to keep people safe, good or bad, and those same bad people are easily willing to spit in our eyes and ruin our hard work. It's just so disappointing."

The reporter there to interview Mr. Stark asked him what he planned to do next, to which the man replied, "I'm going to do what I've done to every other criminal who's crossed my path- take them down and bring them to justice. This 'Malware' menace is going down, _hard_."

With the video done, Alex stopped slouching completely and pulled out his phone to immediately call up his sister and call her out on what she did. Before he could even speak, he received the cheery answer of, "Hey, it's my favorite brother! Did you see the news?"

"Yes", he replied through gritted teeth. His sister continued, "And… what do you think?"

"What do I think, Dana?", Alex parroted with pessimism. "I think you've doubled your chances of getting yourself into a world of pain. First, you go after bank accounts of rich but otherwise normal people; then business conglomerates; then fucking SHIELD of all agencies… and _now_ you've gone after an official superhero. How exactly do you want to die? Because I guarantee it's not going to be a quick one."

Dana scoffed. "Oh, relax; it's Tony Stark the 'Iron Man'. He's not gonna kill me. He'd berate me and get me jailed bigtime if I ever get caught- which is a very big 'if', mind you- but definitely not kill me."

"Need I remind you that Mr. Stark has both a suit of highly destructive armor… and a drinking problem?", Alex retorted. "He may be off the bottle now, but a man with so many things on his plate- leading a multi-billion dollar company and being a member of a superhero team he founded- he'll relapse sooner rather than later. Not to mention that he has, in fact, killed people before; Obadiah Stane is one of the first people to lose their life because of him."

"Stane died by suicide", Dana pointed out. Alex replied in kind, "Still dead though. So please, please stop it with the hacking already. I know we've done things we're not proud of to survive, but that life is behind both of us now. I'm the head scientist of a genetics research firm and you're a… a… what do you do again? I.T. person?"

"Yeah", Dana answered. "It's boring as Hell, which is why I do the hacker thing in the first place."  
Alex muttered, "Dana, I… ugh. We'll talk about this tomorrow. Currently, I'm in the middle of lunch and would like to finish it. Then I can finish the gene-sequencing for the latest viral test, hand in my report, and finally go home. This has been an exhausting day."

"So, how's the whole 'cure for cancer' thing going?", Dana wondered. Alex corrected her, "It's not a cure for cancer- it's a cure for _everything_. Every disease, deformity and malady known to medical science can be eradicated in one go if this virus works the way I want it to. The long and short of it is that it survives in the host body for as long as it can, eating and assimilating- or 'Consuming' as I like to call it- everything it's sequenced to deem a threat. It could Consume cancer cells or dead skin cells if I want it to. Modified correctly, it could even be the greatest cosmetic tool known to mankind- dandruff and flaky skin could be things of the past."

Dana raised an eyebrow. "Really? That sounds a little unrealistic."

"Well… it's not completely finished yet", Alex admitted. "There's plenty of variables that need to be tested in Petri dishes of human DNA before anyone even thinks of animal testing, let alone human subjects."

"May I ask what makes this virus so many versatile… assuming it'll even work?", Dana continued to prod. Alex hesitated for a moment and asked, "Any chance SHIELD is listening in on this conversation? I'm about to break a major rule by telling you, and I'm only breaking it because you'll keep bugging me about it until I finally give in."

Dana asserted, "Trust me- there's no one but us here."

Alex took a breath and said, "Alright… the reason the virus is so powerful is because of the two main ingredients, one of which is guaranteed to blow your mind. The first one is the base virus- Redlight- which is used to make the second- Blacklight; it's so aggressive that it borders on sci-fi in how it can mutate DNA. The second ingredient is… well…"  
"C'mon...", Dana sarcastically stated. "The suspense is killing me."

"Gentek has the Super Soldier serum", Alex admitted. His sister went completely silent on her end of the phone until she eventually asked, "... What? _The_ serum? The one that made Captain-fucking-America? But- how!? How the Hell could Gentek get a hold of that?"

"No clue", Alex told her. "Gentek has its ways."

Dana blurted, "Alex, that's insane! If you did it, that serum with the virus could make someone into a… a Super Captain America!"

"Hell no", Alex asserted, "this virus is way too unpredictable for that sort of thing. In this untested state, I wouldn't want to expose it to even my worst enemies."

Dana suggested, "Not even your boss?"

"Karen isn't that bad", Alex told her. "I don't get much free time while I'm at work, but that's because, y'know, _I'm at work_."

He checked the time on his computer and realized, "I gotta cut this conversation short, sis. Lunch is almost over; then it's back to gene-sequencing. Talk to you later."

Dana agreed and Alex cut the connection, then hurriedly finished the rest of his food before getting ready to head back into the lab. He spent the rest of the afternoon working in the lab and introducing different strains of the virus into Petri dishes, watching their interactions with the available human DNA at the microscopic level. Alex could only imagine what the unfinished products would do to an entire human body, though he preferred if those ideas remained solely as admittedly morbid fantasies than reality.

When he eventually finished with the testing, he wrote down the results and clipped the papers together into a single bundle, carrying them to his boss's office. Knocking on the door, Alex asked, "Ms. Parker?"

"Come in", his boss replied, sitting at her desk as Alex walked in. He handed her the report and told her, "Here are the results of today's experiments. So far combining the virus with the serum has been easy enough, but correctly coding it so that it dissipates in a given host after the intended alterations are complete is just not happening."

"It's an acceptable trade-off for the benefits", Ms. Parker determined. Alex questioned, "Even if it turns people into something less than human? I've seen what this virus does to organic material day after day- what starts out as normal DNA is changed into something so bizarre and unnerving that I'm not even sure if calling it alive anymore would be accurate."

Ms. Parker asserted, "It's fine, Alex. The other geneticists can work out of the bugs themselves if it's that much of an issue for you."

Alex held his tongue and calmly replied, "No, it won't be."

Ms. Parker nodded and dismissed Alex, unaware of him muttering under his breath on the way out, in which he likened her to a derogatory term associated with female dogs. While walking down the hallway which leads to the front of the building, Alex could not help but feel a great deal of unease regarding his boss's unusual disregard for the major defect in the virus, where it did not target itself to burn out in a host body and leave no unexpected changes. Normally a woman who demanded absolute perfection, that being something Alex provided in turn, the fact that she did not seem concerned about the side effects made _him_ concerned.

This absentmindedness resulted in Alex arriving at the rotating gate which kept anyone but employees out of the building, at which point he realized he forgot his ID badge. Grumbling aloud, "Of all the contrived things to forget…", he turned around and searched for his missing ID first near his lab, though failed to locate it there. Then he went back to the lunchroom in case he had taken it off there and forgotten it, though again he could not find it, leaving the last possible location being somewhere near Ms. Parker's office.

Alex spotted it lying on the ground a ways away from the office door; it most likely fell out of his back pocket while on his way there the first time. He snagged the ID and kept on walking, though Karen's voice from inside her office piqued his curiosity. Not quite on the best terms with the woman, Alex did not feel any guilt about listening in on her conversation with someone on the phone and thus held his ear near the door to catch almost every word.

"- going well", Ms. Parker said, continuing from her last point that Alex did not get to hear. "Although progress is generally slow, the geneticists have finally fixed the virus where it remains stable in the host, and with the enhancements they can already grant being stable as well, I believe we are at the stage where we sell certain strains to the highest bidder. It may not be the Super Soldier serum exactly, but it's definitely the next best thing."

Alex kept his ear close to the door to try hearing what the person on the other end of the phone said to his boss, but he could not make out the sentences. He could only postulate what they said when Ms. Parker replied with, "Don't worry- everyone not in the know has already left the building, including our head researcher, Mr. Mercer. Once he completes the vaccine to the virus- which is entirely optional for the buyers to purchase- he'll be disposed of like everyone else."

At that moment Alex backed away, realizing just how bad things truly were behind the scenes; he thought the missing scientists were just being laid off like he had been told, not "disposed of" as Mr. Parker dispassionately put it. With his life on the line and his life's work being sold for illegal profit, the young geneticist knew he had to do something then and there before he would be dealt with as the others had been. Eyes darting everywhere for what his next move should be, Alex found himself drawing near the lab again with an idea forming in his mind.

Inside the room, he arrived at the cryogenic freezing container which held the various strains of the virus for future testing. Among the types there- DX-1118 C, the baseline for the others; DX-1120, the most stable viral strain; and countless others which were either too unstable or untested- Alex grabbed the first one, studying the vial of red-gold fluid before quietly stuffing it into his jacket pocket. He knew he had to get the word out about what Gentek planned to do, and having a physical copy of the proof would make for substantial evidence against their agenda.

However, that would not be enough; Alex required proof that they were doing human testing illegally as well. The only place which could possibly hold that would be none other than Ms. Parker's private office, and despite his dread, he knew he had to get in there and take what he could get his hands on. Alex walked out of the lab and snuck over to her door, placing his ear next to it to check if she had left or not.

Upon hearing no movement for the longest time, he checked the doorknob and found it unlocked, at which point Alex slowly turned it and snuck in. He made it to her desk and checked the top for anything suspicious, shuffling some papers around until he found exactly what he hoped to find- a folder conveniently marked "Human Testing". Opening up the file and peering at the pictures inside…  
"Oh, _Jesus_!", Alex blanched, experiencing a shiver run down his spine and forcing him to close the folder immediately out of overwhelming disgust. With the second piece of evidence in hand, he walked back to the door and out of it, wondering where Ms. Parker went. Sticking to the shadowy sections of the building, he made it about halfway through before noticing Ms. Parker walking back to her office, making Alex double-time it before she discovered his treachery.

By the time he made it to the security checkpoint of Gentek, he thought he would make it past there before a voice called out, "Alex?"

Alex turned his head and saw Ms. Parker standing several meters away from him. She began, "You were supposed to be gone already. Now I have a file missing from my office, and I can only assume one of the vials from the lab is missing as well. If you're doing what I think is it you're doing, then you're going to fail. Now, hand over both of my things and I'll be lenient with you."

" _Your_ things, Karen?", Alex indignantly asked. "This virus is the culmination of all my hard work at Gentek, and this file is proof that you've been using it on innocent people, all so you could make a quick buck selling it as a cheap knock-off to the Super Soldier serum to the highest bidder. There's no way I'm going to let you turn my greatest gift to the world into nothing more than another weapon for idiot nations to use against each other."

Ms. Parker argued, "Alex, do you think you're going to get out of here, out of the city? I've already told my contact of what you've done; you'll never make it out of New York in time. It'd be better if you just quit now and maybe they'll go easy on you, and that's a very unlikely 'maybe'. Because if you even try leaving this building, they'll kill you for sure."

"Fuck that, and fuck you Karen", Alex spat, bolting for the exit. Ms. Parker called after security to go after him but they were too late- he made it out of the building and started his car, rushing out of the parking lot by the time the guards got outside. Staring at Alex's car vanish in the distance, Ms. Parker called her mysterious phone contact again and stated, "He's on the run, carrying a vial of the virus and photos of the human test subjects in a folder. Send your team in, but be careful- Alex Mercer cannot be allowed to leave the city, and neither can that virus. If there's an outbreak… then this whole city will descend into chaos."

 _Several hours later, outside of the city…_

Inside a tent spacious enough to accommodate most of the Avengers and multiple agents of SHIELD, all were anxious about what would happen to the city. At least most of the Avengers were; Tony recalled fellow teammates Hawkeye, Wasp and the Hulk all asleep in a different tent due to having to wake up at a such an unusual time. Turning back to Nick Fury, Tony asked, "So… what happens now?"

Fury explained, "For now, all the Avengers and SHIELD can do is let Blackwatch handle the situation. Their leader is arriving onto the scene as we speak- he should be able to tell us what's going on in the city."

Not long after he said that, a man in typical army camo clothing and a matching beret walked into the tent, followed by a woman in a business suit and blond hair. They both made their way over to Tony and Nick and shook their hands, revealing the army man had a bionic arm as a replacement to his lost one. He greeted the duo with, "Iron Man and the Director of SHIELD. It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Pleasure's all mine", Nick replied. "Though I wish it could be under better circumstances than this. The Avengers and I are still in the dark about what's going on. Maybe you could shed some light for us?"

Randall nodded. "Of course. But first, allow me to introduce the CEO of Gentek, Ms. Karen Parker. She can explain how this whole outbreak started."

Standing in the midst of the SHIELD agents and Avengers, Ms. Parker stated, "Gentek has been working on a revolutionary virus for some time now. Capable of temporarily bestowing the host with immunity to any known disease or ailment, it would be the ultimate innovation in medical science."

"Unfortunately the head geneticist, one Alexander J. Mercer, believed we were 'wasting our time' by limiting the virus to simply curing people and then harmlessly burn out in the host's body- he wanted to evolve it to be the equivalent of the Super Soldier serum and sell it for profit. Out of jealousy, he stole an incomplete sample of the virus and classified research notes in order to complete it himself. We alerted Blackwatch to Mercer's intent and they swiftly worked to apprehend him, but once cornered at Penn Station, we believe he intentionally broke the vial containing the virus as an act of spite."

Tony pondered, "What kind of impulsive maniac would do that?"

Handing him a file folder, Ms. Parker continued, "We were wary of Mr. Mercer from the beginning, but could not deny his brilliance with genetics. His history reveals repeated anger management issues, run-ins with the authorities, and other problems. Suffice to say, this was surely inevitable. Clearly, we should have taken better precautions around him."

Fury took hold of the file and skimmed through the pages, commenting, "Mmm-hmm. He definitely looks like the type of person who would act so irrationally. But how did Blackwatch get to him so quickly? I've never even heard of this organization before yesterday."

Randall explained, "Due to Mercer's volatile nature, Ms. Parker contacted us some time ago and had us keep watch over him in secret, and secrecy is what we're best at. We thought we could detain Mercer with minimal force if he ever went rogue, but never did I believe it would come to this."

He sighed. "All Blackwatch can do now is contain the chaos as best we can, and keep the infected away from the safe zone as best we can."

Tony asked, "What about a potential cure?"  
Ms. Parker elaborated, "Naturally, Alex's corpse has the most concentration of the virus in his body, so Gentek is currently working on synthesizing a vaccine from him. However, as far as a 'cure' goes, the only thing that can be done for the already infected is termination. Only the non-infected can be saved through vaccination."

"What exactly is happening to the infected?", Fury questioned Ms. Parker, to which she stated, "Due to the instability of this particular strain, coupled with Alex's intentions, it's turning almost everyone into mindless monsters. The virus was meant to only target certain things in a host's body- dead skin cells, other viruses, things like that. After it finished with a given task, it was supposed to target itself and leave no trace behind in the host's body. Without the final gene-sequencing, this virus will continue violently changing people- without rhyme, reason or limit- into a horde of monsters."

Tony wondered, "Literal monsters… again. Is this going to be as bad as that 'Gamma World' incident some time ago, or worse?"

Randall raised an eyebrow and wondered in return, "Gamma World?"

Ms. Parker briefly explained, "Massive radiation incident", before telling everyone else, unlike that event, there's nothing that can be done to save the afflicted, save termination and cremation."

"That's depressing", Tony noted. "Normally when a crisis like this comes up, we can keep casualties to a minimum, or even none at all on the better days."

Ms. Parker dismissively replied, "This whole mess should be over in about a week, two weeks tops. We have Alex's body in custody and our geneticists are already in the process of deriving a vaccine from his corpse, so there should be no further compli-"

Suddenly her phone vibrated in her pocket, leading Ms. Parker to politely excuse herself and move to a corner of the tent to have her conversation. However, from the way, her voice rose in volume noticeably, it became clear that there would indeed be further complications regarding the outbreak. Returning to the others and shaking her head, Ms. Parker bemoaned, "This can't be happening- Alex has… he's _escaped_!"

"I thought you told us he was dead", Fury exclaimed. Ms. Parker kept shaking her head, groaning, "Of all the people the virus could have successfully bonded to… it just had to be _him_. I don't know how, but the virus has somehow bonded to him when it was released and when he supposedly died. Now he's escaped the morgue and is running rampant across the city. Who knows what the virus inside of him is capable of?"

Sighing, she continued, "In its incomplete state, there's no telling what Alex will be able to do."

"Who can do what?", a new voice suddenly asked. Everyone turned and found two of the formerly sleeping Avenger members- Wasp and Hawkeye- standing there in the tent doorway. Hawkeye yawned and muttered, "Sorry we missed the briefing; it's kinda past our bedtimes. Speaking of which, I was really zoned-out when we were heading out of the city. Was the zombie apocalypse thing part of my imagination or…?"

Tony affirmed, "Not your imagination, though it's not quite a zombie apocalypse."

Hawkeye turned to Wasp and gloated, "Ha! Called it. Knew it wasn't a dream", before walking further inside and commenting, "Cap and Thor are outside, watching the city."

He and Wasp nodded to Randall and Ms. Parker before Wasp asked, "So, what can the Avengers do to help?"

Randall immediately stated, "Absolutely nothing. As much as it is a pleasure meeting the Avengers and SHIELD, this situation is something only Blackwatch can take care of. Suffice to say... no one but us would have the stomach for what needs to be done."

Iron Man retorted, "Are you sure? Capturing Alex Mercer sounds like something we can handle."

Ms. Parker explained, "It's not that- it's dealing with the infected. They're not like gamma mutants where a few swings to the head will knock them out. The only thing that'll stop them is termination, and I mean complete termination."

Hawkeye countered, "Excuse me, but if comic books and real life have taught me one thing, it's that you need superheroes to fight supervillains. Sure I was an agent of SHIELD, but I'm not wearing this colorful costume as a fashion statement."

"Who's this Alex guy anyway?", Wasp wondered. Fury handed her the file folder and let her flip through it, and a moment later she noted, "Cool jacket."

Everyone just looked at her and made her add, "What? It has two dragons on the back. You can't deny that isn't cool."

Hawkeye peered at the picture and commented, "Cool? This guy is wearing dress shoes with jeans! If his outfit doesn't scream 'supervillain', then it screams 'complete fashion disaster', and I'm the one wearing all purple for crying out loud."

Ms. Parker asserted with a hint of irritation in her voice, "Regardless, Alex is entirely a Blackwatch and Gentek priority. Besides, without proper gear, you'd be infected within minutes. The virus doesn't just travel through direct contact with other infected people- it contaminates everything."

Tony thought about it and hypothesised, "I've developed suits for the team that can withstand the vacuum of space and be more durable than conventional armor. If we got a hold of those, it wouldn't take much for me to modify them for other hostile environments."

Fury pointed out, "Your mansion's in the middle of the Red Zone- there's no way to get to them without surely being infected before reaching them. However, SHIELD can supply you with the necessary equipment to create new ones."

Tony smirked. "I get to play with SHIELD's toys? Maybe this day isn't so bad after all."

With that, Fury turned to Randall and Ms. Parker, imploring them, "I know the Avengers aren't affiliated with any government and thus are an independent organization, but they've done things that no one else has done. Let them help you."

Randall and Ms. Parker shared a glance before returning their gaze to Fury, and both reluctantly agreed. At that point Hawkeye began to walk out of the tent, stating, "I'll go tell Cap and Thor we're good to go."

He went back outside and found the First Avenger and God of Thunder watching the city from the edge of a railing. Cap commented to his friend, "In my day, the worst disease outbreak I ever heard of was the Black Death in Europe from history class. But this is… this is so much worse than that."

Thor agreed. "Plagues always bring death and desolation. So much worse than any battle, for there is no enemy to fight… only friends to say farewell to. And worse still, this came about because science was trying to make something good from something destructive, only for more destruction to come about because of it. If only there were a foe we could fight to bring an end to this chaos."

"You're in luck, then", Hawkeye commented, walking up behind them. "I just learned who caused this zombie apocalypse… one Alexander J. Mercer."

He handed them a photo from the file folder and allowed them to see their future foe, and at which point Thor tightened the grip on his hammer and asserted, "Then let us find this 'Mercer' and bring him to justice. His deed will not go unpunished."

Captain America nodded. "Avengers… we have a city to save."

(Author's Note)

This is my first official story on . I am so excited, please favorite and review so I can get as much criticism as I can to improve this story. Me and Blitz king are co-writing this story together go check him out and his work. He's a great writer and I couldn't have made this story without him. I hope you all enjoy the story.


	2. Chapter 1: Rude Awakening

_Several minutes ago, inside the Green Zone…_

Two Gentek employees were preparing to cut open the corpse of Alex Mercer, adjusting their hazmat suits and selecting the right scalpels to tear through his clothing and into his body. As they were organizing their tools for the dissection, one of them glanced at the corpse and muttered to himself, "Huh."

"You say something?", the other mortician asked. The first commented, "I just find it weird I used to work under this guy. Alex Mercer. Man, what a weirdo."

"You mean his wardrobe? Yeah, I can't blame you for thinking that."

"Any family?"

"The files we were given on him mention a 'Dana Mercer', but I've no idea who that is to him, wife, sister- Hell, she could be completely made up for all we know!"

"Well, she's irrelevant now. Just like Alex here. Hey, hand me the eight-inch for me, will you? We'll start by the torso, work our way down."

As the scalpel drew near Alex's chest, the other mortician wondered, "Hey, if Blackwatch pumped this guy full of lead, how come there's not even a single wound on hi- _holy shit!_ "

When the scalpel finally made contact with Alex's body, just barely digging into his hoodie, the formerly motionless corpse jolted to life, eyes wide open in shock. Sitting up a moment later and scaring the daylights out of both Gentek employees, Alex could only stare in confusion as they scrambled to the exit without so much as a word out of them, though with a great deal of screaming incoherently. Alex began to mutter, "What the Hell was…?", before an alarm sounded, making him finish his own sentence with, "Trouble."

Quick as a flash he hopped from the table- noting with further confusion that he had been laid out on a examination table for corpses, of all things- and ran through the same exit the other two men had. Sprinting down the hallways with a speed he did not recognize, presumably from the unwanted excitement of being hunted down by Blackwatch, yet again, Alex rushed past several of the soldiers before they even had time to react. Coming to a door reserved solely for emergency exits only, the young man believed his predicament certainly qualified and ran right for it.

What followed yet served as another piece of evidence that Alex had indeed died and now rushed towards the afterlife; first he "miraculously" survived being shot several hundred times by the Blackwatch soldiers who pursued and cornered him at Penn Station. Then he managed to outrun several more soldiers inside the Gentek building to the point where they could not be certain if they even saw him running past them. Now he ran with such ferocity and strength that, instead of slamming the exit door to the side, Alex knocked it right off the hinges, sending the door somersaulting through the air and landing several meters away from the doorway.

Journey to the white pearly gates or not, Alex did not stop for anything, certainly not for the Blackwatch soldiers still in dogged pursuit of him. Turning left and right, his random running lead him straight for a solid concrete wall- something no normal person could ever hope to get past. And yet… Alex felt a compulsory need to keep going; at about the halfway point between the alleyway and the wall itself, he leapt into the air and kept going, going, and going until he rose well over the wall and onto the other side.

Acting more surprised by his string of superhuman feats than out of exhaustion, Alex stopped for a moment and turned back to the wall, incredulous that he actually managed to vault something so impossibly high. He shook his head and wondered aloud, "Did I really just do all of that?"

A sound of a chopper snapped him out of his thoughts, alerting him to the arrival of a helicopter, most likely owned and operated by Blackwatch due to how it appeared determined to hover over him. Not another moment passed when the helicopter opened fire on him, spraying the ground with bullets and forcing Alex into another superhuman sprint. He ran past and kept up with most cars; due to how slow traffic could be in New York on average, but still keeping in mind what that meant for his increased speed, Alex estimated his sprint speed to be around thirty-five miles per hour.

Despite the thrill of what running now granted him, the helicopter soured his exhilaration by continually showering him with bullets, barely missing him and hitting everything else. Alex thought aloud to himself, "Jesus, doesn't 'friendly fire' mean a thing to this asshole?"

At one point he found his foot accidentally colliding with a taxi, but thankfully there were no people inside. Although Alex thought his foot with break after coming into contact with a solid object at such a high velocity, to his surprise it ended sailing through the air, as if punted like a mere football. For the people below, however, it would have crushed them like any taxi flung through the sky and crashing back to the ground would have.

Feeling another surge of brazen heroics, Alex leapt into the air along with the taxi and grabbed hold of the fender, somehow keeping it aloft with both hands. When he came back to the ground with it, he held the car over his head in both hands, amazed at just how weightless it felt in his grasp. And once again he snapped out of his stupor when the Blackwatch helicopter rained down more bullets on him, though by this point Alex had enough of running around like a rat in a maze.

Hoisting the taxi high above his head, Alex muttered to himself, "Either this is going to be really stupid or this is going to be really awesome. Let's hope it's the second one!"

Leaping straight up into the air, Alex tossed the taxi with all his might and watched it arc right for the helicopter, as if his body calculated the exact measurements to strike the chopper before his mind did. Devilishly grinning to himself, he watched the taxi collide directly with the front of the helicopter, taking down everyone inside and then the entire vehicle itself, to which Alex shouted, "Awesome!"

Then the flaming, falling helicopter crashed behind a building and caused no small amount of carnage, to which Alex grumbled, "Stupid! I think I just civilians killed. Aw, crap."

Leaving the scene before any police officers or more Blackwatch soldiers could arrive, Alex glanced around and sought the fastest way out of the area. Staring up at one of the tall buildings nearby, he got another strange feeling and attempted to scale the side of it. Not only did it work out, but Alex found himself somehow running straight up the side by only way of his feet, giving the finger to both physics and gravity.

By the time he reached the top of the building, taking no longer than a few seconds, he vaulted into the air and landed safely atop the roof. With another moment to himself, Alex took a breath and reflected on the last ten minutes that just occurred. So many questions he had and so few answers to those questions, with the most important being, "... What the Hell am I?"

The only explanation he could come up with involved being soaked in the virus when the vial broke, but the odds of it successfully bonding with his DNA were astronomically slim. Even so, deriving superhuman powers from a virus genetically engineered to transform people into super-soldiers appeared to be the only logical solution to randomly developing abilities akin to Captain America's. So as Alex contemplated the situation, things could have turned out much worse for him- he defied death, eluded Blackwatch for the moment, and-

"Aaaggh!"

He found himself falling to the ground in unbearable agony, watching his body ripple unnaturally in hues of black and red. Apparently the virus had not completely integrated with his body, and he felt it in every fiber of his being. As to how long he had to live before whatever the virus would do to his body eventually ended, Alex could only speculate with dread, as well as speculate what the end result would be.

Panting in pain, the young man barely got out the words, "Oh God… what's happening to me? The pain..."

"I don't know", a voice from afar commented, "but it's nowhere near as bad as what we're going to put _you_ through."

Alex stared up and saw several figures standing on the far side of the roof at him, all garbed in outfits similar to what SHIELD wore, though also reminiscent of Blackwatch uniforms as well. Just as well, for in the distance Alex spied another one of their helicopters making its way to everyone. Spying the arrival of a certain man in a horned helmet and general Norse attire, Alex realized just how bad things had become for him.

And as if it could not get any worse, the agonizing rippling sensation from before started up again, forcing Alex back to the ground in agony. A woman among the ranks of the Avengers- Wasp, Alex assumed- questioned to the others, "Um… is he alright? And a follow-up question: how'd he get up here in the first place? I don't see the roof access up here."

One person hovering in the air- Iron Man, Alex believed- flew in close and spoke to Randall, Ms. Parker and Fury through his helmet, zooming in on Alex to give them all a good look through his video feed. Iron Man asked them, "What do you three make of this guy?"

Ms. Parker confirmed, "That's definitely Alex; his body is barely remaining stabilized with the virus in his system."

"With that in mind", Randall added, "remember that this is about capturing and containing the subject. Even with the virus likely enhancing his physical attributes, there's no telling what he's truly capable of.."

Fury finished their assessment with, "And remember that we're on a time limit- every second wasted is more lives lost because of this man, monster- whatever he is now. Grab him and bring him back to Gentek for processing."

Iron Man affirmed, "Copy that, everyone."

Looking down at his fellow Avengers, SHIELD agents and Blackwatch soldiers, he told them all, "Alright everyone, get ready to take him down!"

Everyone moved in close to Alex, causing him to stand up and stumble back, though still groaning in pain as the virus rampaged through his DNA. He came close to losing his footing as he edged closer and closer to the nearest roof corner, though not enough to send him over the edge completely. Struggling to stay upright, Alex looked down and thought to himself, _Run_.

 **No. Relax...** a conflicting thought argued. Alex shook his head and wondered, _Relax? This Blackwatch group, SHIELD and the freaking Avengers are after me! Why would I ever relax in a situation like this?_

 **Because you're also suffering from fear and doubt** , the other thought explained. **If you don't get a hold of yourself, you're not going to escape. You need to breathe, relax, and embrace…**

 _Embrace_ what _!?_ , Alex internally exclaimed. The thought answered, **Embrace…** _ **me**_ **!**

The pain in Alex's body increased dramatically, the ripples across his body appearing, disappearing and reappearing so rapidly that they distorted his appearance like static on an old TV screen. Having no choice but to accept the virus coursing through his system, Alex remained calm and took several deep breaths; the people around him were wary of coming too close for fear that he would lash out at them without warning. Soon the distortions became so extreme that they hid Alex behind a small hurricane of red and black, ultimately leading up to a cloud of biological mass erupting from him, but being sucked back in moments later.

Alex still stood in the midst of the collapsing cloud, though no longer hunched over in pain or duress. Now he stared at the people facing him with calm, grim determination. Inside his mind, he asked the other thought, _Do you have any idea how goddamn stupid you sounded just then? 'Embrace… me?', really? What the Hell does that even mean? And why's everything else going so slow?_

 **Well, excuse me!** , the second voice in Alex's mind retorted. **I can't help it if my entire vocabulary is limited by what words you know. I've only been alive and active for the past thirty minutes, you know. Also, I know this conversation is going as fast as the speed of thought, but you should probably pay attention to the army of angry people before us.**

During their internal conversation, everyone stared with uncertainty at Alex, unsure if or when they could attack him without major risk to themselves- he appeared to be on the verge of violently exploding near the end of his meltdown. Hawkeye kept an arrow nocked on his bow, eventually asking Iron Man, "Are we good to go to shoot this guy yet? I'm starting to develop a cramp in my shoulder."

Iron Man agreed, "Yeah, we should've blasted him already. Alright, everyone- fire on my mark. Three, two, one- _fire_!"

Dozens of laser beams of various types were shot right for Alex, though he managed to avoid them when his secondary thought blurted, **Look out!** , and Alex hopped behind an AC unit for cover. Since he did not want to test his durability against a several-story drop, he continued hiding behind there for as long as he could, hoping to instead scale down the windows and get inside. However two Blackwatch soldiers decided to intervene on his contemplation, disrupting his train of thought by coming around the side with a steady flow of bullets.

Captain America berated them, "Hey! We didn't say you should move in yet!"

Two solid punches later, both soldiers were knocked away from the AC and onto the ground, out cold. Cap shook his head and ordered everyone else, "All of you- stand back. I'm going to try this diplomatically."

He cautiously walked over to the AC unit- careful to avoid stepping on a Blackwatch soldier- and peered around the corner to Alex there, at which point Cap asked, "Hello?"

Alex stared back and held a defensive stance, though Cap merely held up his hands and explained, "It's alright, son; not gonna attack you, unlike those two trigger-happy hooligans you just punched out. Listen, I know you're angry, frustrated and confused, but there's something much more at stake here than just your personal freedom. That virus you released is causing havoc across the city as we speak, and Gentek need your DNA to fix things. Please, come with us and I promise you'll get a fair trial afterwards."

Glaring, Alex shot back, "You think I'm the reason the virus was released in Penn Station? I had it safe and sound until those Blackwatch idiots filled me with enough bullets to make swiss cheese look solid by comparison! _They_ cracked the vial and unleashed this chaos, not me."

Cap put his hands to his side and elaborated, "Gentek and Blackwatch have already given me their sides of the story. What could you tell me to give credence to your interpretation of these past events?"

 **The blood, tell him about the blood** , Alex's second voice urged. Alex looked straight at Captain America and asked, "Did either group tell you that this virus was engineered using your blood?"

Cap's eyes shot open as he blurted, "W-what!?"

"You can believe me or not", Alex asserted, "but whatever the case- I'm getting my revenge on everyone- Gentek, Blackwatch, or whoever else tries to ruin me, understand?"

Cap implored him, "Revenge isn't the way, Alex."

"It may not be your way...", Alex stated, "but it is _mine_."

With that said, Alex leapt from the edge of the building and plummeted back to street level, though no one would let him escape that easily as Iron Man shouted, "I got him!"

Alex descended to the ground without any change in his expression which Iron Man found odd, but nevertheless he flew in to catch him. Annoyed, Alex spun around in the air to deck Iron Man in the face-plate, sending him spiraling into the side of the building. Crashing through the glass and tumbling in, Iron Man groaned, "Or not. Ow."

Getting back up, Iron Man watched the Hulk freefall down the side of the building to catch Alex as well, landing against the pavement with a thundering crash. He looked up and tried to catch Alex wherever he would land, but missed by just a few inches. But to the Hulk's surprise, Alex did not splatter against the concrete like a melon- he landed gently on his feet, then immediately ran from the Hulk at well over human speeds, which baffled the Jolly Green Giant for a moment.

Parkouring from the roof of a car to a STOP sign and then to a nearby back alley, Alex found himself calculating impossibly precise jumps and movements to make his route without actually knowing his end destination in mind, only that he needed to keep moving and stay far away from everyone in sight. He vaulted over to another street and weaved through the traffic, only to be stopped by another one of the Avengers who flew in his path- Yellow Jacket. Putting himself between Alex and the nearest alleyway, the surly superhero crossed his arms and then asked, "Going somewhere?"

Soon two more Avengers arrived on the scene as well- Wasp and the Vision. The female Avenger flew in near Alex's face and commented, "You're the guy who's the reason my beauty sleep was interrupted. Jerk. But I gotta admit- that's a pretty cool jacket you're wearing."

Vision scanned Alex and corrected Wasp, "Subject Alex Mercer is actually composed entirely of a singular biological material. In other words, he is not wearing clothing of any kind."

Wasp turned her head and pointed at Alex, exclaiming, "You mean he's technically… _naked_? Eww…- Gah!"

Alex used the momentary distraction to swat Wasp out of the air just like her namesake insect, inciting the other Avengers to start attacking. Yellow Jacket flew directly at him with a fist at the ready, viciously slamming into Alex and launching him into the pavement. Rebounding at a moment later, Alex planted his feet firmly against the ground and got into a shoving match with Yellow Jacket, ultimately overpowering the man and flinging him into the side of a building.

Before he could even attempt a getaway though, the Vision flew up from underneath him by way of his intangibility power and tried incapacitating Alex in the quickest and most efficient way an AI would know how- by jamming his fist straight into Alex's head. Despite not having a brain in the normal sense, having a semi-solid hand being shoved into him did not feel right at all to Alex, causing him to scream in pain and come close to slumping over from the shock. But just as Vision thought he had subdued his target for good, Alex's head began to ripple before unraveling into a mass of red and black tendrils, slipping through Vision's grasp and reforming right back into Alex's head a second later.

Vision stared down at his hand and commented, "That was… disturbing."

Alex shook his head and muttered, "How do you think _I_ feel about it?", right before giving his opponent a roundhouse kick into a wall and sprinting off. Vision pulled himself from the loose bricks and contacted everyone else to explain, "It appears that the virus is modifying Alex's body based on dangers he experiences out in the world, and then adapting against them. If he is not captured and subdued soon, he may become too powerful for any one of us to apprehend."

"Don't get your circuits in a twist", Hawkeye replied, holding a free hand to his comm-link. "I'm gonna bag this fashion-disaster and we can all go home before lunch."

Returning his hand to the handles on his Sky Cycle, Hawkeye flew over the buildings with Black Panther in tow, both surveying the concrete jungle below to locate their target. The Black Panther commented, "Despite the catastrophe that is ravaging New York, Mr. Mercer's skill with genetics is admirable; he has flawlessly replicated the super soldier serum's effects and even gone beyond its capabilities in some respects. He merely lacks sufficient training in combat in order to truly rival Captain America."

Hawkeye shrugged. "Meh. No one can replace the Old Man, especially not some young punk in a stupid jacket. Seriously, I can't be the only one who thinks this guy looks completely ridiculous, right?"

Black Panther looked down and commented, "Is there a reason you continue to insult his choice of wardrobe? After all, _you_ are wearing all purple… and are from the circus no less."

"Ok, first off", Hawkeye retorted, "I'm wearing an outfit that would make most people go cross-eyed if they looked at it because I'm a _superhero-_ bright, colorful clothing is part of the job. And secondly, this Alex guy's outfit is mixing street clothes with pieces of a suit- it's an entirely different aspect of fashion. One that this maniac is absolutely butchering."

Black Panther told him, "Well, you can complain to him about his attire soon enough- I'm detecting an unusually solid and humanoid mass moving through the city up ahead. Fly down and we'll be sure to spot him."

Hawkeye flew lower to just above street level and looked side to side, quickly spotting a speeding Alex running down the intersection. He hopped from the roof of a car and to the side of a building, continuing along the glass walls as he spotted a purple and black blur in a reflection, followed by the whistling noise of an arrow soaring through the air. Alex reacted as fast as he could by hopping away from the building, but not fast enough; the arrow expanded into a net which caught him by the leg, throwing off his calculated jump and plummeting back to the streets below.

Black Panther wasted no time and leapt from his position behind Hawkeye and down to kick Alex in the back, planting the virus-man firmly into the ground while the other jumped off momentarily to avoid the same fate. Rolling around several times and bouncing more than once, Alex felt incredibly dizzy when he finally came to a halt, staring up to see Black Panther putting his foot out to stop Alex's tumble. Hawkeye flew down to them and commented to his friend, "Heh. And you thought this guy could've been as good as Cap."

Alex glared at him and shifted through the netting, leaving it on the floor as he got up and prepared for another fight. Hawkeye lost the smirk he had on his face and admitted, "Ok, Cap can't do stuff like that."

The Black Panther pulled out glowing daggers and launched them at Alex while Hawkeye did the same with a volley of explosive arrows. Alex jumped and found himself unintentionally cartwheeling away from the projectiles, eventually vaulting over a car and grabbing it on the next turn, flipping the whole thing over his head and tossing it with all his might. Panther formed a double-sided energy staff and sliced clean through the car, allowing Hawkeye to aim another arrow at Alex.

Under increasing duress and not capable of focusing properly, Alex did not react in time to the projectile shot at him, detonating on impact and releasing its payload all over him- a very fast-acting cryogenic substance which suspended him in a glacier-like prison. Utterly immobile, Hawkeye calmly walked over to his target and the Black Panther did as well, while the former admired his handiwork when he got close enough. Black Panther told his friend, "Impressive. How did you know that viruses like this were highly susceptible to sub-zero temperatures?"

Hawkeye smugly claimed, "I took a biology class once."

Black Panther's unamused expression through his mask made Hawkeye relent and admit, "I got lucky. Anyway, I'm the one who stopped this guy and saved the day. That's the important part."

An ominous cracking noise made the two Avengers turn toward the glacier and realize they had not actually won. Before either of them could escape in time, Alex broke free of his frozen prison and send chunks of cryogenic compound everywhere, knocking his opponents several meters away and with considerable injuries. Shivering and slipping out of the ice, Alex struggled to stand up and hissed, "I… hate… _the cold_!"

Suddenly, the sound of thundering above him alerted him to the arrival of one of the most powerful members of the Avengers team, and indeed the other two most powerful were right with him. Thor hovered above Alex and stared down, as storm clouds darkened the sky and made the virus-man all too aware of the power his newest opponent wielded. Soon after, the Hulk landed nearby and cracked his knuckles, while the third Avenger- an energy-wielding woman known as Ms. Marvel- flew down alongside Thor.

Pointing his hammer at Alex, Thor declared, "You fear frost, monster? Then I will make you cower before my _thunder_!"

"Nowhere to run now, little man", Hulk warned, more than ready to smash Alex into pieces. Ms. Marvel commented, "Time to take out the trash."

This remark earned her a few raised eyebrows from her peers, to which she responded, "What? I had to say something intimidating? Let's just get this over with and punch him out."

Thor nodded. "Verily."

He swung his hammer around and launched it at Alex with a direct hit; Alex could not move around as well as he could before as he still suffered from the effects of the cold, and therefore became completely subjected to the Avenger's onslaught. Thor's hammer sent him flying for a few moments before turning to the Asgardian's grasp, leaving Alex to fly straight for the Hulk. His prepared punch made Alex fly into the sky, where Ms. Marvel waited for him with a blast of golden energy.

Crashing against the pavement and leaving a sizable crater behind, Alex saw through the haze of being pummeled like a ragdoll that the God of Thunder hovered over him still, but now raised his hammer and summoned an unholy- or quite holy, depending on one's opinion- lightning to strike the man down with. With a wordless bellow, Thor called down the storm and unleashed the full condensed might of an electrical storm, shocking Alex to the point where he thought he would die then and there for the second time, right after being Blackwatch's target dummy.

When the storm cleared and dust settled, the three Avengers stood over the crater and saw Alex still there, barely conscious, yet convulsing with electricity every few moments. They waited for their allies to arrive- the other Avengers, SHIELD, and then finally Blackwatch- and allowed their superiors to discuss what their next move would be. However, someone noticed Alex slowly crawling out of the crater, weak from the battle, but still forcing himself to keep on going.

An agent of SHIELD alerted the others to Alex's movements, to which Iron Man turned around and aimed a repulsor palm at him, ordering, "Stand down. You're not going anywhere."

Alex wheezed, "I… I surrender."

Iron Man lowered his palm slightly and commented, "Should've done that in the first place, y'know."

"I just…", Alex gasped. "Please, don't let Blackwatch or Gentek take me. I've seen what happened to the test subjects. I don't want to end up like them. I'll go under SHIELD's custody, or under your team's watch- just, not the others."

Iron Man contacted Randall and Ms. Parker, asking, "Alex wants either SHIELD or us to take custody of him, and not Gentek or Blackwatch. Are you two willing to play along just so this is easier on him? He's not going anywhere."

Although those two protested Alex's offer, Fury got himself into Iron Man's frequency as well, arguing in favor of his claim for the sake of easier transport, leading into a mildly heated discussion between the four of them. While they were debating it, Captain America walked over to Alex and stared at him, questioning, "What you said on the roof, were you telling the truth? Is this virus really made from my blood? And what you said now- test subjects- what's really going on here?"

Alex nodded. "I swear to you, I'm not the cause of this chaos. I made the virus with your blood, yes, but I wanted to help the world. Gentek is why the virus is as destructive as it is, and they're using Blackwatch to clean up the mess… and leave no evidence behind. If they take me, they'll have their superweapon _and_ my life in their hands."

Cap took a moment to think to himself before stating, "I don't know what's really going on here, but I'll tell you what I told you on the rooftop before: if you go along quietly, I'll promise you a fair trial when this mess is over. You have my word on that."

Alex sighed. "I guess I don't have much choice otherwise, do I?"

He reached out his hand to leave the crater proper, and Cap intended to help him out of it without a fuss. However, Blackwatch took issue with that, once they noticed the exchange; the soldiers rushed over, moving past Cap and shouting, "Target is hostile- opening fire!"

Cap tried to explain, "Wait, no- stop! He's not-", but his cries fell on deaf ears and the sound of several machine guns going off at once. Alex's body became riddled with bullets and holes in his torso, though these did more to just drive him away than actually do him harm. He scrambled out of the crater on the other side and ran up to the nearest place he could hide- to his dismay a moment later, he found himself hiding behind a gas pump as part of an old gas station.

Although the shower of bullets did not lead to his imagined catastrophe, what came next certainly did; a soldier on a nearby rooftop aimed down with no less than a rocket launcher and fired momentarily. Not even Alex's superhuman speed could help him escape the fireball which used to be the gas station. He got only a few meters away before the inferno utterly consumed him, much to the surprise and shock of everyone in the vicinity, aside from the other Blackwatch soldiers.

All eyes were on the blazing gas station as a single, solitary figure writhed from the flames and onto his knees, as the parts of biomass altered to resemble his face, clothing and hair all burned away, leaving nothing left but a charred husk. Thor went to blow out the blaze, conjuring a wind that snuffed out the fire and swept away the ashes, allowing everyone else to come closer to the destroyed gas station. As the others walked closer, Cap turned towards the soldiers nearest to him who fired on Alex in the first place, grabbing one by the cuff of his neck.

"What in the world have you done?", he demanded of the soldier. The man simply replied, "Neutralizing the threat, sir."

"Threat? We had him subdued already!", Cap exclaimed. "He was going to come quietly."

"Can never be too sure, sir", the soldier responded. "For all we knew, he was going to break through your containment suit and infect you."

Cap meant to argue with the man further, but stopped himself and walked away, angrily sighing as he went over to Iron Man to speak with him privately. At the same time, the soldier Cap had just spoken to received orders to carefully remove the charred corpse that used to be Alex from the wreckage of the gas station, walking over there immediately. As he adjusted his gloves and prepared to gingerly pick up the corpse by one of its roughly intact arms, Cap told his friend, "Regardless of the validity behind Alex's claims of innocence, no one deserves to be torched to death like what Blackwatch did to him. I'm having serious reservations about working with these people."

Iron Man agreed. "Whether or not he intended to sell the virus as a weapon, I was beginning to think of Alex as another visionary. I don't think there's much that could make me think of him as a monster."

Just then everyone heard short cries of panic evolve into a full-on scream of terror; they all turned to see the lone soldier handling Alex's remains flail about as said remains _wrapped around_ the man, bursting from the charred exterior to reveal black-and-red tendrils that were very much alive indeed. Nearly cocooning the soldier within a web of inky darkness, everyone continued to watch in shock as the free tendrils worked to pierce the suit, stabbing into the man inside and tearing his insides to pieces. Just when they thought the scene could not be anymore disturbing to witness… _it_ happened; the webbing visibly tore the man apart and absorbed them into itself, deflating into a blob of darkness with no definite shape.

Eventually the blob became more defined as it replaced the former corpse of the soldier with a new humanoid shape, transforming the Biomass into limbs, a torso, and then finally a head. New, yet familiar colors took the place of red and black, changing into what looked like parts of a human, then all covered by pale skin and then clothing. Fingers formed into balled fists as the humanoid took a primal stance before standing back up, and when the process completed, Alex Mercer stared back at everyone staring at him.

Wasp meant to say something, but her vision faded as she passed out. Tony took a step back and blurted, "I think… I was wrong; that was… I mean…", before bile rose in his throat and he ran off to vomit around a corner. Even Cap could not initially bring himself to speak correctly, but he took a breath and ordered the others, "A… Avengers. Take that thing… _down_."

Alex continued to stare at everyone, eyes darting around, mind racing with questions and images and even memories that were not originally his own- until a familiar voice cut right through his uncertainty with a single word- **RUN**!

Once again a chase gave way as Alex sprinted through the streets with every one of his enemies right behind; Blackwatch, SHIELD, the Avengers- all were after the monster without a hope of redemption for what it did, and what it could do _again_. He knew he could not continue his escape on the surface, so Alex decided to hide down in the sewers and see if that would be enough for him. Pulling up the nearest manhole cover and descending down into the bowels of New York, he slipped the cover back over the hole before going the rest of the way down, but knowing full well that his foes would find him down there momentarily.

With the echoing of his footsteps against the damp pavement, Alex cursed the wetness seeping into his shoes- or his feet, in truth- and tried to focus on escaping above all else. And yet the memories of the life he did not live remained at the forefront of his thoughts, as if they were as "real" as his own memories, but he did his best to brush them aside and remained on the task at hand. However the second voice in his head disagreed with this plan- **You may not like this… whatever it is that just happened, but giving yourself completely up to it is the only way they'll lose you down here. You need to fool everyone into thinking that you're someone else.**

Alex hesitated at that idea; _I don't understand what's happening to me. You don't even understand it either, not fully anyway. What'll happen to me if I 'give in' and make myself… that other person? The one I… I fucking ate! Mashed him into goddamn paste and mixed his own remains with my own. I don't know what'll happen after that._

He shook his head and continued, _I just don't_ \- "Fuck!"

Alex swore when his foot went down into a deeper puddle of water than before, the water causing his "shoe" to violently distort and come apart as red-and-black Biomass tendrils. He fell over and stared at his leg, forcing the amorphous lump at the end to reassemble back into a normal foot and shoe. At that point Alex realized three things- 1) water actually hurt him; 2) his inadvertently surrounded himself with his new weakness; and 3) his outburst allowed the Avengers to hone in on his location, forcing him to take drastic action.

Getting back up and taking calming breaths, Alex focused on the memories of the soldier he… Consumed, and allowed them to overtake his original memories. Biomass shifted around until by the time Black Panther and Hawkeye turned the corner, they found a lonely Blackwatch soldier on the ground before them. Hawkeye demanded to know, "And where the heck did you come from?"

The soldier explained, "I… I got separated from my unit and was trying to find someone, anyone. Then I ran into Mercer. I don't remember what happened next. I think he knocked me out."

Hawkeye crossed his arms and turned his head to Black Panther, stating, "I don't believe this guy's story. How do we know this isn't just, I dunno, Alex in disguise?"

Panther knelt down and scanned the soldier's body. "While theoretically this virus is capable of replicating inorganic materials, such as Mercer's original attire, I doubt this man could be him. Alex was composed of solid Biomass, whereas this man has his organs and bones where they should be."

The soldier waved them off. "I'll be fine right here- you two keep going after Mercer. He couldn't have gone too far."

Panther nodded and left with Hawkeye close behind him, and once the two Avengers were out of the soldier's sight, he sighed before transforming back into Alex Mercer. Staring at his hands- a thin layer of pseudo-skin coated over a disgusting Biomass mush- he closed his eyes and balled the hands into fists, griping, "Apparently I'm so fucked up that even that guy doesn't think the things I can do should be possible. What… what have I become?"

Alex almost wished tears could stream down from his eyes, at that would make him feel slightly more human, but alas, his body could not tolerate fluids of any kind. With nothing but the voice in his head for companionship, he asked it, _What am I supposed to do now?_

 **The only thing you** _ **can**_ **do** , the voice replied. **Find evidence of what Gentek was doing. Get it to the media, to SHIELD, anyone who can get the truth out. Clear your name. Make your enemies pay. Need I say more?**

 _Just… one last question_ , Alex stated. _What do I call you?_

 **What do you think? What else could I be known as other than the virus you created?** , the voice retorted. **I… am Blacklight**.


	3. Chapter 2: Set Up

_Later that night, back at the Blackwatch base…_

Everyone involved in the failed apprehension of Alex Mercer returned to the tents and patched themselves up, though tension ran high as neither Ms. Parker nor Randall were willing to answer the questions SHIELD or the Avengers posed. At the very least, Randall appeared genuine when he stated, "I swear on my mother's grave that I did not anticipate the situation could get this bad; Mercer has acquired superhuman abilities far beyond anything Blackwatch could have predicted. But rest assured we're preparing for anything that maniac throws at us."

Despite the general's earnesty, Fury did not care for it; he stood before the man and argued, "And the next time, he'll be even more powerful than he is _now_. My people have been pouring over the video recordings on everyone's devices. We've learned that the Blacklight virus is capable of adapting to everything, given enough time. Combine a power like that with all of the ammunition your men have recklessly wasted on him and he's likely become nearly bulletproof by now."

"We took every precaution we could think of for this", Randall defended himself with. "We knew that he had superhuman durability, and retaliated with a level of offense to match. It was a calculated attack."

Fury questioned, "You call blowing up a gas station 'calculated'?"

Tony stepped in between them and attempted to break up the argument. "Alright, let's settle down before-"

Fury then turned to him and continued, "And what about you, Stark? The Avengers were able to stop a cosmic threat that entire planets and civilizations have fallen to. So how in the world could your team fail to catch one man in a leather jacket?"

Tony immediately lost his composure and argued himself, "We 'failed' because… because… well-"

Steve put a hand on Tony's shoulder and stated, "Tony, this is my fault. Let me explain the situation."

He told to Fury and Randall plainly, explaining, "The truth of the matter is that our team has become sluggish, lethargic and lazy. Without the threat of superhumans which kept us on our toes, we've had no reason to stay sharp. With the appearance of Mercer, a new threat to our city… that changes today."

Randall noticed a Blackwatch soldier walking in and replied, "If it makes your team feel any better, it appears that the mission wasn't a total loss."

Tony stared at the object in the soldier's hands- a glass cylinder with plastic caps on both ends, and a black blob shape in the middle- and asked, "What exactly is that?"

"We were able to recover a portion of Mercer's Biomass from the remains of the gas station", the soldier explained. "Ms. Parker should know what to do with it."

As he handed it over to her, he commented, "Am I the only one confused as to how literally _everyone_ seems to get superpowers these days? A little magic or a little science and then- Wham! Suddenly there's a new superhero or villain or whatever on the block. Seriously, generally, people are supposed to _die_ from crazy stuff like this."

When he left, Ms. Parker told everyone, "With this sample, we should be capable of creating the vaccine necessary to protect the remaining New Yorkers who are in the Green Zone. We might even be capable of creating a counter-virus to neutralize every infected in the Red Zone."

"Or mass producing that super-soldier virus Mercer made", Hawkeye pointed out. Ms. Parker grew irritated and commented, "I thought we made it clear that Alex was lying to save his skin. He's twisted the truth to make himself look innocent and to have everyone's sympathy. Is that so hard to believe?"

Hawkeye replied, "Yes, actually. I may not like that Alex guy, but I've been in a situation just like his before. Framed for a crime I didn't commit, on the run from pretty much everyone and nobody to turn to that I can trust. I don't know if he's innocent or not, but I can say for certain that I've gone through the exact same thing.."

Ms. Parker insisted, "Rest assured that Alex's story is false. We'll have this outbreak contained and the city back to normal soon enough."

She went to leave with the Biomass sample in hand, but Tony questioned her, "Would you like any help with the research? I'm certain one of us or some people in SHIELD could give you a hand."

Ms. Parker declined the offer and went on her way out, with Randall following behind her momentarily. With just the Avengers and agents of SHIELD left in the tent, Fury felt the need to comment, "Hmph, that's funny- she's doing the exact same thing SHIELD would do if we had secrets to hide… and people to frame."

Hawkeye rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me."

Tony asked Steve, "What do you make of it? Do you believe Blackwatch and Gentek… or Alex?"

"I believe there's more to both sides of the story", Steve admitted. "All we can do is play along and piece together this puzzle so we can get a clearer understanding of what's really at stake here. Mercer is a monster for sure- no doubt about that. But the way he looked when he… absorbed that soldier… I saw the fear in his eyes. It wasn't something he intended to do- I doubt he even knew he could do that, and it's going to haunt him from here on out."

"But the question is…", Steven finished, "... what will he do next?"

 _Hours later, near Alex's apartment…_

Alex stood on the edge of a rooftop close to his apartment, watching the chaos down below. Like out of a zombie horror movie, the infected shambled around in droves yet with no apparent direction, drawn to a given location only due to some noise making them mindlessly investigate. With a small amount of sorrow, Alex saw a few uninfected people attempt to flee the area, but got easily mobbed by the swarms of the infected before succumbing to the horde; not even Alex's powers could have halted the sheer, overwhelming number of pseudo-dead in the general vicinity and beyond.

Ignoring the carnage down below, he launched himself from his perch and landed on top of the apartment complex, scuttling down the side of the building until he reached an open window. A single infected woman stood in his way to the door, someone that he used to know, but now served as nothing more than an, unfortunately, obstacle blocking his way. One swift kick to her sent the woman flying through the hallway and knocking down the door in a single motion, allowing Alex to walk out and find his apartment.

He stood before the door to his place and patted his non-existent pockets, unsure if he still had the key on him and reluctant to break down his own door. A moment later, however, the Blacklight virus pointed out to him, **The door is slightly ajar**.

Alex questioned it, _How did you know that? I wasn't even looking at the door then._

 **You may** _ **appear**_ **to be a standard human from the outside** , Blacklight explained, **but we both know it's just a skin-deep cover-up. Your body is capable of seeing the environment in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree radius; you just choose not to use it because it would make you dizzy.**

 **But back to the matter at hand** , Blacklight finished, **someone's been in your apartment… and they could still be there.**

Alex carefully pushed open the door and crept inside, keeping to the shadows and avoiding open spaces. Although he initially heard nothing out of the ordinary, that did not mean he should not be unprepared for the company anyway. Slinking down the hallway, he briefly looked up at the pictures hung on the walls; they were mostly of himself and/or Dana throughout their tumultuous years- the first few years were the most enjoyable ones, even if Alex did not remember them all that well.

Before everything went wrong, Alex had his loving father and mother, along with his younger sister Dana. But then tragedy struck and the siblings were orphaned, taken in by a guardian who acted like everything Alex and Dana's parents were not- cruel and not kind, abusive and not welcoming, evil… and not good. Eventually, Alex simply could not handle the trauma continuously inflicted on himself or his sister anymore, and so a handgun he stole from the man's bedroom- or woman's, he could not even recall by now- and poorly hid with himself made all the difference in a matter of moments.

With their uncaring caretaker dealt with, Alex had no choice but to call Social Services for a new guardian, and thankfully things worked out to where he and his sister were adopted by truly kind and caring people. But the things Alex and Dana had endured before then- nothing could undo the kind of mental and emotional damage the two had suffered through, even as childhood left them behind and adulthood awaited. Such traumas made Alex into exactly the kind of antisocial sociopath who would work for a company like Gentek willingly, even as he earnestly wanted to help the world so it did not have to suffer any longer.

As he thought about his sordid past, Blacklight commented, **Interesting; in most cases, children who kill their abusers end up becoming abusive themselves. But you didn't. You remained as close to Dana as before, and perhaps even more so.**

Alex, in turn, commented, _Family was- and still is- the most important thing I have in my life. Even when Dana drives me up a wall with her antics, I put up with it because she's my sister, and I won't let anything happen to her._

He shook his head and wondered, _I wouldn't let anything happen to her, but with what's happened to_ me _, I don't know if she'd even want to associate with me anymore. I've become a monster, something subhuman…_

 **Something superhuman** , Blacklight insisted. **This is the kind of thing that she would be jealous of if anything.**

Alex looked down at his hands, watching the Biomass unravel and reform in the span of a single thought before gripping them into emotional fists. _I can't think of anyone who would want to be like this_ , he believed. Pushing the emotion aside, Alex snuck to the dining room and noticed a single light on, illuminating something on the table.

He slowly stood up and crept closer, eventually coming to the edge of the table and discovering a picture had been left there. Cautiously picking it up, Alex saw both Karen and himself in the photograph, he is in a green sweater and her in a black dress, and with Alex's arms wrapped around Karen, it looked like a cheesy couple's photo shoot for the Fall. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary at first, but not long after…

"I have never worn a green sweater in my life", Alex commented aloud. He stared at the photo more and continued, "This was photoshopped."

Turning the picture frame around, he found a note attached to the back which read simply- _Dear Alex: You're fired- Signed Karen Parker_.

"I'm… fired?", Alex parroted the words, unaware of what that innocuous action would cost him. Not far away on a ledge, positioned just right so that a soldier watching from there would see Alex picking up the picture frame and note, that same soldier took a switch from his belt and activated it. A moment later an explosion rocked the city block as explosives hidden throughout Alex's apartment detonated all at once, roaring into a fireball that blew the man inside right through the window.

The Blackwatch soldier soon received someone on his comm-link, asking, "Did it work? Did Mercer get blown up?"

"Affirmative, sir", the first soldier replied. "Just saw his ass get launched out of the apartment complex. And before you ask, no, we didn't use the bombs that beep. Odds are Mercer could've jumped out the window before they went off."

"Why do we even have those? We don't live in a comic book."

Agreeing, the soldier continued to watch what Alex did and commented, "Uh, sir? It doesn't look like the explosion worked. Mercer appears fine."

Just like the soldier relayed to his superior officer, Alex suffered no real injuries despite being subjected to an explosion that rivaled the gas station that blew up on him only a few hours ago. Instead of being engulfed in flames that charred his "skin" off, he merely got blasted out of the window and landed on the ground, coming down delicately on his feet more annoyed and upset than anything. He looked up at his apartment and groaned, "Ow, and dammit… I had leftovers I wanted to finish."

 **We don't eat real food anymore** , Blacklight reminded him. Alex groaned again, "Double dammit…"

Looking around, Alex then wondered, "Well my apartment's gone- what am I supposed to do now?"

Blacklight pointed out, **Run away from the helicopters?**

Alex listened closely and heard the distinct sound of helicopter blades whirling away, making him groan for the third time. "Triple dammit."

Clamoring up the side of the nearest building, Alex attempted to make a getaway but found himself surrounded by Blackwatch's helicopters, circling him like vultures over their prey. Balling his hands into fists, Alex thought aloud, "I've taken out one helicopter before with ease- what's a few more compared to me?"

Ripping out the nearest AC unit from the ground, he heaved it with all his might and knocked out a helicopter when it bounced off of the tail rotor. Alex repeated the simple process several times more, knocking down helicopter after helicopter while leaping this way and that to avoid the storm of bullets raining down on him, and soon even that lessened to a drizzle of caliber rounds. As the number of copters dwindled to almost nothing, Alex internally commented, _I'm a better shot than I thought- I haven't missed a single target._

 **That's actually my doing** , Blacklight explained. **I'm doing a sort of "Auto-Targeting", calculating the exact shot to take and whatnot.**

 _Do you_ have _to steal my thunder?_ Alex asked, rolling his eyes. Blacklight then countered **I'm just trying to keep us both alive. It's not exactly easy, what with all these psychotic soldiers constantly after us. Where do they even come from? We don't have anything else to do, so we might as well figure that out and learn if we can throw a wrench in the works. Any suggestions?**

Alex looked up at the few remaining helicopters, contemplating the best way to follow their movements without having to take a pilot out of the vehicle and then _literally eating_ him to absorb the man's knowledge. His mind formed the question he wanted to ask before he even thought about asking it- _Could you adjust the Auto-Target so we just cripple the helicopter instead of outright destroying it? That way we could follow it while it rushes back to base for repairs and search for any useful information there._

 **On it** , Blacklight replied. Alex heaved the last few AC units until he left a single helicopter largely intact, but still bad enough that the pilot decided to leave the scene before his own vehicle succumbed to damage. Appearing to flee the area, Alex kept a low profile while the helicopter flew away, unaware that its tenacious target discretely tagged along, following from afar until he located the Blackwatch building where the other helicopters came from.

Creeping up from a darkly lit back alley, Alex reluctantly changed into the guise of the first soldier he… Consumed, using it to slip into the base perimeter inconspicuously. Walking past guards and other soldiers without them batting so much as an eye at him, Alex went into the base proper and looked for the man who ordered the detonation of his home. Fortunately, the man in question wore a much different uniform than anyone else, and the conversation he had with a subordinate soldier soon revealed him as the culprit.

Listening to the discussion, Blacklight commented, **This guy seems to know a great deal about this operation. We should Consume him to take the information ourselves.**

Alex argued, _No way- I'm not eating anyone else. The first time was horrible enough, and I wasn't even aware of what I was doing then. I'll never do it consciously._

 **Then we'll have come all this way for nothing** , Blacklight pointed out. **If we leave without this man's memories and thoughts right now, we'll have no way of learning just what Blackwatch is planning.**

 _Couldn't I just look through one of the available computers for info?_ , Alex offered. Blacklight plainly questioned, **How?**

 _By… hacking it?_ Alex continued, though his confidence in the idea quickly wavered. Blacklight pointed out, **News flash- your sister is the hacker in the family. You'll need a high-security password to get into a computer, and guess who has them? That guy you refuse to Consume. Wanna know how** _ **I**_ **know that? Because the** _ **last**_ **guy you Consumed knew that, but we wouldn't know a thing unless you Consumed him.**

 _What about… that room over there? There are physical documents stored in there_ , Alex commented. Blacklight once again explained, **The door requires a key to open- a key that's kept on the same officer. And before you think about it, no, you can't pickpocket him because it's hidden in a pocket on the man's front leg. Get it?**

 _So I'm fucked either way_ , Alex surmised. Blacklight answered, **It's not pleasant to do, but neither is murder, and you've been able to do that because it's utterly necessary. Consuming those who hold valuable information is utterly necessary as well. So you'd better make a decision now or otherwise, we might just lose our window of opportunity.**

Alex looked back to the officer and soldier, watching as the two went their own ways and the former headed towards the office. Following indiscreetly behind him, Alex waited for the right moment to strike, took a calm, deep breath and went for it. Once the officer arrived at the door to the office, out of sight of everyone else, Blacklight told Alex how to Consume him without making a sound- Alex's hand went right through the man's chest and ruptured his heart, inserting Biomass inside of him to cut off circulation and prevent the officer from even making a noise.

Not even five seconds went by as the officer died, had his Biomass integrated into Alex's body and giving him the man's entire history at his fingertips. Something unexpected occurred as the officer's most important recent memory came up, which revealed distressing news to Alex- Blackwatch learned of his sister's existence and her location, capturing her during Alex's initial escape from the Avengers and SHIELD. With her rescue being his new priority and mission, Alex marched out of the building and contemplated how to get to where Blackwatch held her captive.

Spying a tank nearby, Alex got a sneaky idea that at first excited him, but as the necessary steps formed in his mind, it became clear he had to perform one more very unpleasant task. He thought to himself, _I have to Consume the tank driver, don't I?_

 **At least you'll be well fed for the trip** , Blacklight offered. Alex shook his head in response. _Please don't make jokes like that- it's not making this any easier._

Climbing onto the tank, Alex knocked on the top of the hatch leading inside and watched as the driver inside opened it. He hopped down and Consumed the driver as soon as he could, not allowing the man time to scream. With yet another death on his hands, Alex sighed and got as comfortable as he could in the driver's seat, moving the tank out of the base and onto the streets.

While he did so, one of the soldiers contacted him through the radio and asked, "Hey, where do you think you're going? You're not supposed to leave unless you get a direct authorization from the commanding officer."

"I did, in fact", Alex replied with the driver's voice replacing his own. "Mercer's been spotted near the warehouse we're keeping his sister in, so I've been told to go there and provide additional firepower."

The soldier told him, "I'll need to confirm that with the commanding officer just to verify."

Briefly switching to the superior officer's voice, Alex explained, "It's alright- I got the OK from HQ. He's clear to leave the premises."

"But what about Mercer, sir?", the soldier asked. "What are the odds that he'll think to follow the tank?"

"Highly unlikely", Alex explained, still using the superior officer's voice. "He didn't think to follow the helicopter to the base, and I doubt he's intelligent enough to follow the tank to where his sister is. It's doubtful he even knows she's been captured, let alone be resourceful enough to track her down. He may be a brilliant 'geneticist' or whatever his old occupation was before, but tactical recon isn't exactly his forte."

"Copy that, sir", the soldier replied. He then told the tank driver, "OK, you've been cleared to leave. Happy hunting. Hey, run over some of those infected fucks for us back at base, would you? I've heard it's pretty funny to watch them go _squish_."

Alex- still as the tank driver- laughed and replied, "Sure, sure. Over and out."

Turning off the radio, Alex switched back to his normal voice and muttered, "What in the actual fuck is wrong with that guy?"

 **Don't know; don't care** , Blacklight told him. **Got a plan for busting out your sister?**

 _I thought_ you _were the idea person in this little partnership?_ Alex questioned him. Blacklight simply sighed. **I'm watching your back figuratively and literally. Do I have to do everything?**

 _Just help me with this, dammit_ , Alex grumbled. If Blacklight had eyebrows, it would have rolled them at Alex's impatience. **Alright, alright, lemme think. Well, we have a tank. We have your sister's location- well, not precisely, but finding that out shouldn't be too hard. All we have to do is find the right spot to blow all those Blackwatch soldiers to Hell without accidentally doing the same to Dana. Are you comfortable blasting the soldiers with missiles?**

 _Hell yeah!_ Alex agreed, gripping his hands on the controls for the tank tightly. Blacklight remained silent for a moment before asking, **Excuse me?**

Alex became confused and thus plainly asked, _What?_

 **Why are you so suddenly enthusiastic about killing the soldiers?** , Blacklight asked in return. **Before you had hesitation about taking out the officer and the tank driver, but now you're willing to blow people up indiscriminately? And before that, you were clearly throwing those AC units at the helicopters with no qualms. What gives?**

 _Look… it's just the whole "Consuming" thing- it's fucking terrifying_ , Alex admitted. _As long as I'm not literally eating people and absorbing their minds like a sponge from the depths of Hell, then it's fine. But if I am, then that's when I get unnerved._

 **I don't see the difference.**

Alex explained, _Killing people isn't the problem- heck, even the whole "storing people's memories like a living library" isn't all the main issue. It's just… whenever I Consume someone, I see their entire life being played out all at once, fast forwarded._

 _But when I get to the very last part_ , Alex finished, _I see their deaths from_ their _perspective. Every life extinguished the same way- over and over again by my hand. I can look at myself… and all that those people see is a monster._

Silence filled Alex's mind for a few moments longer until Blacklight offered, **It could be worse- you could be on your own in this mission. At least you have me to talk to, I suppose.**

 _Or_ you _could be the one on your own_ , Alex proposed. _It's good that the infection didn't do anything worse to us. It's probably due to the serum extracted from Captain America's blood- without that, who knows what the base virus you were made from could have done? I could've been struck with amnesia, or my mind could have been deleted and you were left with my body… anything is possible in a scenario like that._

He sighed and looked at the monitor on the tank, commenting, _We're here._

Driving around the perimeter of the warehouse, Alex thought about how to go about breaking into the building and switched his voice over to that of the tank driver. With the man's voice, he stated, "Hey, I got sent over here because we heard Mercer was sighted in the area. In case he ever comes around the actual building, could you tell me where _not_ to shoot so I don't accidentally blast any of our own soldiers or the prisoner we have inside?"  
He received the reply of, "Copy that- we got word of your arrival from HQ. As for keeping the area safe, it would be best if you simply avoided shooting in the direction of the warehouse at all. We have guards stationed at every corner and several in the very center of the building, along with our 'guest'. Everywhere else you're clear to shoot at."

Alex smirked, then changed to his own voice. "Thanks for the tip."

The soldier he spoke to blurted, "Wait, who's-?", but by then Alex had already aimed and fired a missile at the building's corner, blasting the concrete to pieces and decimating several Blackwatch soldiers inside. He continued to hammer away at the building's exterior until he made a decent hole in it, then proceeded around the area to take down the rest of the soldiers in the vicinity. Alex stopped after enough shells had been launched and to avoid causing the building to collapse on itself, then hopped out of the tank to race inside.

Knocking away most of the remaining soldiers who survived the bombardment, Alex held onto one and slammed him against a partially destroyed wall, demanding to know, "Where-is-my-sister?"

The soldier managed to reply, "Down… the hall… to the… left…", before he soon succumbed to his injuries and passed out. Alex tossed him aside and sprinted down the hallway and turned left, keeping up his momentum before kicking down the door before him. He walked into the room to initially see nothing but a medical bed with a laptop on it, but in the following seconds, someone right came at him from the side with a folded up metal chair as an improvised weapon.

Reacting with superhuman speed and normal human indifference, Alex stopped the folding chair from knocking him in the head with the casual placement of his hand against the backrest. Another moment later the wielder of the folding chair looked past her weapon and saw her brother standing there, making her let go of it and him to toss it to the side. Dana exclaimed, "Alex! It's you! Oh, thank God. I, uh, sorry about the chair- I didn't know who or what was coming for me."

She shook her head, still somewhat in shock after the events that transpired so quickly before deciding to give her brother a big hug. Dana wrapped her arms around him and squeezed tight; Alex acted almost dumbfounded for a moment and felt afraid he might accidentally Consume her, but upon realizing that required a more voluntary intention than a reflexive one, he returned the hug and gave a small smile. When the euphoria of being reunited wore off, Dana took a few steps back and sat on the bed in apprehension, questioning, "I don't know what exactly happened to lead me being put here; one minute I'm at home cracking the codes to SHIELD's security system for fun- next minute I'm waking up on this bed with a splitting headache, ringing in my ears…"

She grumbled, then scratched her neck. "Ugh, and this damn itch! What the fuck is…?"

Dana felt something there and traced the outline with her finger, realizing that a bandage had been slapped on there. Alex commented, "They experimented on you- injected you with something. Oh no… what did they do?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "No idea."

Looking back to the door Alex knocked down and then getting up to look outside into the hallway, Dana asked, "You're asking what they did to me? What did you do to this building? It looks like someone went to town on it with a tank or something."

Alex paused for a moment before admitting, "Yeah, that was me."

Dana went, "Oh…", before the realization struck her. "Wait, you hijacked a tank? Where did you get that? And how?"

"Look, it's a long story and this is isn't the best place in the world to tell it", Alex told her. "Just follow me to the tank, we'll get to someplace safe, and _then_ I'll explain everything, alright?"

Dana shook her head, the sedative used on her continuing to cause grogginess and other sluggish symptoms. "I guess… don't think I'd remember much of anything anyway."

Alex grabbed what he could from the room- a computer and a curious syringe of gray liquid, then led Dana by the arm through the destroyed building, going past the remains of Blackwatch soldiers in the hallways. When they moved past a soldier who had his head inside one of the walls with cracks all around the entry point, Dana commented, "Huh… didn't know tanks could make that happen."

Alex briefly said, "Again, that was me."

"With the tank?", Dana asked. Alex elaborated, "With my fist."

Dana did not know how to respond to that and even questioned in her mind if she had even heard him right. In any case, she and Alex carefully walked down the rubble pile to street level and made their way to the tank where Alex left it. Alex did a quick hop up and lent his hand down, helping Dana up the side and then to the hatch leading to the inside.

After closing the hatch and beginning to drive, several Blackwatch helicopters flew in from around the area and fired upon the tank, forcing Alex to take immediate action. He ordered Dana to be completely silent as he changed his voice to the former tank driver's voice and turned on his radio, blurting at everyone up in the air, "Wait, wait, stop! It's me! Don't shoot!"

"What happened to this base!?", one of the pilots shouted. "We thought it was secure!"

Alex explained, "Somehow… somehow Mercer snuck onto my tank and hid there while I was preparing to leave for the warehouse. Right when I received instructions to avoid shooting near the building, Mercer knocked me out and took control of the tank. After he absconded with his sister I woke up and saw the devastation- he fired like a madman, sparing no one. Now I'm here and, _ow_... dealing with a splitting headache."

"Do you have any idea where Mercer went?", another pilot asked. Alex said, "He has to be somewhere in the infected zone, but beyond that, I have no idea where. Since we're not going to find him anywhere here, my advice would be for some soldiers to go search the warehouse for anything that survived the onslaught. I'm going to head back to base- hopefully, Mercer won't feel like using my tank a _second_ time."

With some irritation, more directed at Alex than the actual "tank driver", the first pilot affirmed, "Very well- you may proceed back to base. But don't let Mercer get the drop on you again, got it?"

The helicopters landed on nearby buildings and allowed the men inside to get out and proceed to the wrecked warehouse. At the same time, Alex turned off the radio and changed back to his original voice, explaining to Dana, "Alright, you can talk again."

Dana looked at him, growing more confused by the minute as she asked, "How did- you just- OK, could I please get some explanation as to how you suddenly have the ability to mimic voices? That imitation voice didn't sound forced at all like you're a total natural at this or something. Just… just how?"

"I've been picking up talents left and right recently", Alex cryptically admitted. "It's not something I can explain all that quickly. Now, where can we go that's safe? Do you have any suggestions, because I'm mostly making up this whole plan as I go."

Dana offered, "Uh… oh yeah- there's a safe house I've been working on for the past few months. It's got almost everything we need to lay low while this chaos dies down."

Alex nearly stopped the tank just to stare at her. "And… you were going to tell me about this… when, exactly?"

"Probably never; as much as I didn't want to admit it", Dana explained, "you were right that I was gonna get out sooner or later. So I put together a hideout that I could hunker down in as the hunt went on until the authorities gave up on finding me. I didn't think I'd be using it so soon, but I guess I was gonna get discovered eventually. Take a left in a few blocks."  
"They weren't after you because of what you did- they went after you because of _me_ ", Alex admitted. "Pretty much all of the chaos in New York that's going on is related to me, one way or another."

He sighed and remained silent for about a minute, until he asked, "So… do I turn left now?"

 _Several hours later…_

"... And that's the gist of it", Alex explained. "Gentek's been working behind my back, I'm now on the run from near-fucking everyone, and to top it all of, I've become a biological freak. Any other questions?"

He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms, having a deep conversation with Blacklight at the same time he did with Dana. Alex left almost nothing out with his talk with the latter, telling her about everything he could possibly think to talk about, despite how horrifying the reality truly appeared. Like a band-aid, Alex decided that admitting to everything up front would be easier for Dana to take in instead of having her learn about the same thing under far worse circumstances.

He hoped she would take everything well; the sedative continued to slowly wear off and make Dana more alert to her surroundings, which they needed when they came near the safe house. She went to open up the garage necessary to house the tank while Alex drove around to find a secluded location so he could remove the tracker embedded on the vehicle. He tossed it down the sewer and drove back to the safe house, parking it in the abnormally large garage, not bothering to question why Dana had something like that in the first place.

She took some medicine to dilute the remnants of the sedative and took a seat on a couch while Alex explained everything, which to his discomfort also included the existence of Blacklight as a connected entity in his psyche, as well as his unsettling ability to Consume people. Dana grew confused to intrigued to unnerved with every detail Alex mentioned until she remained uncomfortably silent when he finished. It appeared that he told her too much all at once, at which point Alex stated, "If you've come to see me as an abomination, then I don't blame you."

"You… I…", Dana began, trying to find the right words but failing, until she told him plainly, "I need to be alone for a while. I'm sorry, I just… need some time to think."

Alex quietly nodded and left the room, finding a small enclosure to stay in as Dana recuperated and continued to process everything her brother had just told her. Blacklight took the opportunity to comment, **Do you think that went well? I would have to say that your conversation with her could've gone far, far worse.**

 _I still feel a gnawing sensation right where my gut's meant to be_ , Alex responded. Blacklight assured him, **That's just your nerves overreacting… seriously. I think it's trying to modify your mind so that negative outside sources don't leave as much of an impression. That might just be useful in this situation, all things considered.**

Alex lamented _I've already lost too much of my humanity- I can't afford to lose even more._

 **You fear losing it** , Blacklight noted. **That's a good sign that you've retained more of it than you think.**

Just then Dana knocked on the door to the little room Alex hid away in and asked, "Alex? I wanted to talk to you."

Rather reluctantly, Alex opened the door a crack and peered through, though Dana made him open the door up completely. She stood in the doorway and took a breath, breathing out a moment later. Mustering up the courage to speak, she asked Alex, "Before I say anything more, but there are a few questions I need answered, and I'll only accept a 'yes' or 'no'. First one- are you still my brother?"

"That's hard to answer-", Alex began, but he got cut off by his sister as she repeated, "Are you still my brother?"

"Well, I mean-"  
"Are you still my brother?"

"If I could just explain in-"

"Are. You. Still. My. Brother?"

"I… yes. For better or worse, yes."

Dana continued, "Is that voice in your head- _Blacklight-_ safe?"

"Uh… he says yes; I say no. He's telling me to fuck off."

"Next question- do you like 'eating' people?"

"Hell no."  
"Am I still a pain in the ass to you?"

"Hell yes."

Dana gave a small smirk, then asked her final question- "After everything that's happened… do you still care for me?"  
Alex gave a small smile in return. "Does that even need to be asked? I'd break into a warehouse with a tank to rescue you, even if everything else wasn't happening."

Dana continued to smile, and she admitted, "I know it may not seem like it, but I don't think any less of you for everything that's happened. If you were really a monster, you would've left me with those Blackwatch soldiers or worse, come and… 'Consumed' me, which honestly sounds completely disgusting but it's something we'll both come to terms with. Point is- you're still my brother and we still have each other's backs. I won't leave this city until I've done all that I can to help clear your name and set things right."

Dana humorously added, "I doubt I could get out of the city anyway, so I may as well lend a hand."

Dana's smile grew wider and she gave her brother a hug, despite the rather real fear that he might end up Consuming her due to physical contact. But Alex returned the hug and felt some measure of relief because of it. After that Dana let go before adding, "Besides, those Blackwatch bastards are gonna pay for what they did to me… whatever the Hell they did to me, anyway."

"Did you find anything on that computer I nabbed from the room they held you in?", Alex inquired. Dana admitted, "Not a thing- whatever was on there, it's been wiped clean from the system- probably on a flash drive in the hands of a scientist. Fortunately, the computer itself still has a few files that might be of use to us."

Alex added, "And that vial I took as well- I'll have to analyze it in the meantime, see what's in it."

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, deep in thought on everything that had happened so far. "As for that flash drive, we can only hope it got destroyed when I nearly demolished that entire warehouse. I doubt it though. Whatever's on that thing, I can only imagine it'd be bad news for both of us…"

 _Meanwhile…_

Up in SHIELD's helicarrier, Nick Fury watched and listened to the conversation Alex and Dana had together; Maria Hill- Fury's second in command- stood by his side and watched as well, but also made sure the inconspicuous drone they had spying on the duo remained well hidden. When their discussion ended and they went to different sections of the not-so-safe safe house, Hill admitted, "I don't care if this Mercer person _claims_ that he wants to stay as human as possible- heartwarming display or not, he's still a monster on the inside. Just look at what he's done so far."

Fury insisted, "We'll just have to wait and see, Hill- Alex has taken many lives, that's true, but he seems genuine in wanting to clear his name and to see Blackwatch gets what's coming to them. With how they operate, there's a good chance the man is right. But ultimately we'll have to watch how events play out, figure out which of them is the lesser of two evils."

Turning to leave, Fury instructed Hill, "Keep me posted on everything that goes on in that safe house of theirs, new developments and the like. In the meanwhile... I'm going to have a chat with Randall."

( **Author's Note: Wow this story is actually kicking off better then I expected in almost 2 weeks we have 500 views, 12 favorites, 18 follows, and 4 reviews. While it isn't much I say that is a successful start in just 2 weeks with only 2 chapters. Can't wait to see how much it will increase with this third chapter. Now to keep things Interesting I will now respond to the reviews. Because there aren't very many I will respond to all of them. Later down the line, I will limit them to criticisms I get. Praise is great and all but I can't thank everyone one if this story actually gets really big. Anyway onto the reviews.** )

 _(SomeGuyOnlineXD:_ _This is really good so far)_

 **(Response: Thanks)**

( _ecoolasice: What I like is that Blacklight will eventually adapt to everything. Period. It will adapt to magic given enough samples. The only reason that it didn't evolve to deal with water in the game is because of the availability of biomass in the city. Can't wait for them to see him taking down the virus alongside themselves)_

 **(Response: You are correct on that little factoid, and that is something that I and my co-writer Blitz King hadn't thought about before but we will definitely make things more interesting at thinks progress. I appreciate you mentioning that detail, criticisms like that will really help in the long run of this story.)**

 _(Imperial Gilgamesh: story is good and all but you butchered the Alex mercer and Blacklight virus. I loved his character because of his ruthless attitude and his killing style. and Alex was dead it was black light who was thinking himself as Alex.)_

 **(Response: You have the right to your own, but I wouldn't judge to hard since this is quite literally the very beginning of the story. However in the Alex of this story's defense, just like the comic books prototype takes inspiration from, there are multiple interpretations to a character and this is currently the Alex Mercer in the story. I would recommend you wait till his adventure in New York ends before you make a decision like that. You never know what can happen to a character.)**

 _(Greer123: You are doing a great job writing this story in my opinion. Hope you are doing well.)_

 **(Response: Thanks and I am.)**

 **(Author's Note: See you all in the next chapter. This story will try to be consistent and try to post once a month. 2 if we are lucky.)**


	4. Chapter 3: Intel

Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, Alex climbed to the highest point in the general vicinity and peered down at his target below. Several days had passed from when he and Dana got themselves situated in the safe house, and with his complete inability to sleep anymore, Alex devoted his time to patrolling the Red Zone and marking locations of Blackwatch bases on a map. During the nighttime he used a physical map to check off areas, while during the day- such as right now- Alex collaborated with Dana on her new Blackwatch computer to draw up a more comprehensive chart of everything and anything related to the organization.

Alex jumped from the rooftop and landed like a cat on a nearby sign, doing the same on multiple objects until he reached street level. Finding a break in Blackwatch's patrols, he changed into his high-ranking officer disguise and vaulted over the wall that kept the infected out, landing behind a row of armored vehicles. Walking into view like a normal member of the organization, Alex located the nearest set of computer terminals and used his… "acquired" credentials to access Blackwatch's scheduled patrol routes.

With the important information displayed before him, Alex used his comm-link to speak to Dana, quietly informing her that, "I've got what we need. Sending a link to you now."

"Got it", Dana responded a few moments later. She chuckled to herself and then commented, "Y'know, we're like a team of superheroes now- you going out and taking the fight to Blackwatch while I'm hunkered down in the safe house and giving technical support. Kinda like Iron Man and his AI butler, whatever the heck that thing's called."

Dana then thought for a moment and corrected herself, "Actually, we're more like anti-heroes; instead of fighting like heroes do, we're getting our goals accomplished in any way we can. That makes us, uh, Chaotic Good? Assuming SHIELD is Lawful Good and the Avengers are Neutral Good. I think so."

" _Dana_...", Alex stressed, exasperated by her rambling. "Not helping. Have you found anything particularly useful yet? Like what Blackwatch's plans are going forward, or maybe something to do with that vial of gray liquid?"  
Dana typed in a few things and came up with, "Uh, nothing about their plans, but I did find a passing reference to something called 'Graylight'."

"And?", Alex persisted. Dana shrugged her shoulders. "That's it. Like I said, just a passing reference; all that's mentioned is their reserves of it, which totals well into the gallons. Isn't there anything in the memories of those soldiers you've… 'Consumed'?"

Alex shrugged his shoulders in return. "The closest connection that these people seem to have is this really odd feeling. Like there's a point in their lives when something terrible or unexpectedly life-threatening happens, and everything goes completely dark for some time. Then… _something_ changes, and then they're right back on their feet, as if nothing ever happened. I- I can't fully explain it. But whatever the problem is, it's not something their memories can explain, which is unusually worrying."

"And you can't figure this out… why?", Dana questioned. "Ten bucks says this Graylight gunk is some kind of virus, just like Blacklight. How is it that you don't know a thing about this when your whole career is based in viruses?"

Alex surmised, "Oh, I don't know… maybe it's because this virologist needs a _lab_ to do any virology in? I may have superpowers Dana, but being a living laboratory ain't one of them. Even if it was, I still wouldn't put that Graylight stuff anywhere inside me- I'm mutated enough as it is."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Alright, _alright_ , I get the picture. Just- _argh_!"

Immediately going from sarcasm and snark to sincerity, Alex quickly asked, "What happened? Are you alright?"

Growling under her breath, Dana told Alex, "I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just got a shock from the connection socket on this computer. Zaps like that seem to be getting more frequent. When this chaos is over and if the contractor I had build this place is still alive, I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind for making such a lousy hiding spot. Then again, this is what I get when I pay for a building completely anonymously."

"Your little revenge plan against your contractor will have to be put on hold almost indefinitely", Alex commented. "At the rate we're gathering intel- pretty much none at all- this war against Blackwatch is going to go on forever."

Blacklight stepped in to comment, **That's because we've been cherry picking through minor outposts and not very important locations. If we want to get to the heart of this whole operation, we need to go straight to the source of everything that's related to Blackwatch- their HQ just on the outskirts of the city.**

 **Of course doing something like that would be a terrible decision** , Blacklight continued. **Trying to escape the heavily guarded perimeter of the city, delving into the very heart of enemy territory,** _ **and**_ **trying to get back** _ **into**_ **the city as well would fall apart faster than a deck of cards caught in a hurricane. I mean, it's not like we can just waltz into their HQ and** _ **ask**_ **for the top secret information.**

Alex stood still for a moment and contemplated the idea, to which Blacklight immediately responded with, **I wasn't being ser… oh no...**

 _Some hours later…_

Iron Man paced the floor of the Blackwatch tent and anxiously waited for his AI assistant to give him an update on the scans he took over the city. Eventually he simply outright asked, "JARVIS, are you done yet?"

"Nearly finished, sir", JARVIS replied inside Iron Man's helmet. Bringing up a 3D display of the city, the AI explained, "I've scoured every corner of New York that's been labeled as the 'Red Zone'; there is absolutely no sign of unusual biological activity that matches Alex Mercer's unique signature. Just like the last scan, and the one before it."

Iron Man threw up his hands and commanded, "Then scan again! Filter out every trace of Blacklight and any other bio signs if you have to! Just… find him already!"

He growled, "Urgh, this is just like hunting for the Skrulls all over again, only _this_ time I don't have Dr. Doom showing up with a computer chip that makes searching even viable."

Looking over at Black Panther, Iron Man grilled him for information. "Did you find anything with that fancy Wakandan tech of yours?"

"Nothing as of yet", Black Panther admitted. "I still cannot help but be marveled by the adaptive nature of Blacklight; Mercer is constantly evolving to his environment and other outside stimuli, growing superior in every aspect conceivable. I dare say he may eventually become more powerful than any of us."

"All the more reason we need to find him now before that happens", Iron Man asserted. Turning to Nick Fury, he continued, "And what about you, Fury? Isn't SHIELD connected to every phone and computer on the planet? I'm surprised you haven't found a trace of Alex yet if he's using one."

Fury crossed his arms. "SHIELD is certainly… 'connected to the grid', but if he's using any electronic devices, then he's smart enough to know how to keep out all of our infiltration software and Trojan Horses. Hmm. A living virus that adapts to digital viruses as well. Ironic."

Iron Man did not find any humor in the situation though- in desperation for a possible avenue, he turned to the very last person he thought would be able to help: Thor. Tony pleaded with him, "Please, _please_ tell me you have some kind of magical tracking tool that can find this guy? I know you and I usually have our differences with science and magic, but I'm honestly running out of options here."

Thor simply replied, "I am sorry, friend Stark, but there is nothing I can offer to help in our search for Mercer; the most I can suggest is to just going into the city and physically look for the man. After all, it's not as though he _himself_ has shapeshifting abilities like the Skrull do."

"With the capabilities he has already shown us", Black Panther commented, "I believe that power may not be out of the question- in truth, no possible power can be discounted with his adaptability. Even magic may not be effective against him, given enough continuous exposure."

"Which is why we need to find him _now_!", Iron Man blurted, throwing up his hands again in anger. "I'm tired of just waiting around for the guy to show up- there's got to be _something_ we can do to find him. Has Randall or Parker come up with anything yet?"

No one had an answer, so Iron Man impatiently waited until General Randall arrived. Well aware of Iron Man's aggravation, Randall told him as soon as he walked in, "Yes, I have something for you, Iron Man, but it also comes with some bad news and even worse news. That being said, you'll want the good news first."

"And what good news is that?", Iron Man asked dryly. Randall explained, "With the help of your scientists, Gentek was able to quickly start up the two most important projects aimed at taking down Mercer and the other infected in the Red Zone: special viral detectors and an antiviral agent referred to as 'Bloodtox'. The sensors will be able to detect Alex's unique viral strain, and strategically placed throughout our bases inside the Red Zone, Mercer won't be able to sneak his way in anymore."

"Anymore?", Black Panther questioned. Randall stated, "That's part of the bad and worse news; I'll get to that in a minute. As for the Bloodtox, it's a special chemical compound that's highly lethal to anything infected with any form of Blacklight. Therefore, if we deployed it throughout the Red Zone, it'll wipe out the infected there and make it easier to retake the city, as well as severely weaken Mercer… if not outright kill him."

Wasp stepped up to question, "You're going to annihilate all of those people in the Red Zone? Isn't there anything else that can be done for them?"

Randall reiterated, "They're infected- nothing can save them from what's been done to them. Mercer's incomplete formula has completely damaged their DNA well beyond repair. All we can do now is euthanize them with the Bloodtox formula."

"Won't Mercer eventually gain resistance to this toxin as he has to everything else?", Black Panther questioned. Randall continued, "If we play our cards right, that won't happen. Bloodtox's chemical composition is specifically designed to attack the Blacklight virus, especially concentrated doses like what Alex exposed himself to. It's going to overwhelm him before he can overcome it."

Black Panther suggested, "Unless he acquires a cache of this Bloodtox and takes small doses to gradually grow immune to it."  
"Which won't happen because the compound won't be released until _after_ the Viral Detectors are deployed, and we're putting them in our HQ now as a precaution", Randall insisted. "But enough about that- I have other news everyone needs to hear, especially for Mr. Stark and Mr. Fury."

Iron Man and Fury gave the general their full attention to hear Randall had to say, and from there the man explained, "In a surprisingly unusual coincidence, our efforts to restrict Mercer's actions led us to the capture of a hacker you two know all too well- the rogue agent 'Malware'."

"That's great and all- he's been kind of a pain in my wallet- but what does he have to do with all this?", Iron Man wondered. Randall corrected him, "You mean _her_ \- this person is actually a woman, and one who's now involved with this whole incident."

Pulling out the file folder that previously held Alex Mercer's personal information, Randall opened it to reveal it now contained important data on the _other_ Mercer- Dana Mercer. Iron Man looked down and scanned the top of the page, staring at the face of his most recent adversary in silence. After a few more moments, Iron Man officially declared, "I'm really starting to hate this family."

"Where is this 'Dana' now?", Fury asked, to which Randall elaborated, "We captured her a few days ago, but unfortunately Alex managed to break her out of the warehouse we kept her in and escaped. They vanished without a trace, and we believe it's due to them hiding away in an undisclosed safe house; our men haven't been able to locate them since."

Hawkeye snarked, "How did Alex make everyone look stupid _this_ time?"

"He snuck into our base, stole a tank, blasted through the warehouse and left with not only Dana, but as well as a laptop containing certain sensitive data regarding Blackwatch… and the tank", Randall rattled off. "And through some disturbing actions, Alex managed to do all of that under the guise of being our own men."

Losing his snarky attitude, Hawkeye stared at Randall for several moments until he asked, "H... how? How the heck could Mercer actually pull that off? Is Blackwatch that incompetent, or does this guy have more tricks up his sleeves? Or… in his DNA, I guess."

Randall summarized, "From what the people in Gentek have gathered, Alex is capable of doing much more than just healing himself with the people he absorbs. It seems as though his unique relation with the virus enables him to 'copy' and 'store' certain cell configurations, as well as being able to recall and use them at any time."

"And in English that means…?", Hawkeye wondered. Black Panther guessed, "It must mean that Mercer is capable of accessing anyone's memories and mimicking their appearance, much like a Skrull infiltrator. How accurate are these new powers of his?"

Randall admitted, "Mercer was able to sneak into a Blackwatch base as one of us, kill and impersonate one of our higher ranking officers, steal and operate a tank by absorbing its driver, and mimic their voices so well it was impossible for our own men to realize they were being fooled. We only knew of Mercer's treachery when the tank went missing, as well as the two soldiers."

"So then this _is_ just like the Skrull event!", Tony declared. Randall raised an eyebrow and replied, "I suppose so… other than myself not knowing what a 'Skrull' is."

Wasp questioned, "Wait, really? You don't know what a Skrull is? Y'know, those shape-shifting aliens that nearly _conquered the world_. Where have you been, Randall? Under a rock?"

Randall elaborated, "No, I just don't watch the news. Never anything good on."

At that point, one of the higher ranking officers walked into the tent to approach Randall, to which the general handed him a briefcase and allowed him to leave. With just a salute, the officer left and left everyone wondering what to make of that silent exchange. Cap asked as much, "What was in that briefcase?"

"Important documents related to our current objectives and goals", Randall stated. "That officer will take the crucial documents to a dead drop and allow another, randomly selected officer to retrieve it. That way its whereabouts are hidden from Alex."

After another moment of silence he added, "Look, I understand none of you are happy about Blackwatch's intentions with the Bloodtox, but with how unpredictable and dangerous the Blacklight virus is, euthanizing the infected is our only viable solution. A cure is simply impossible at this stage, or at any other."

The various members of the Avengers looked at each other, and eventually Wasp spoke for them all when she said, "If there's really no other way… it just hurts because normally we can save everyone. Something like this- just standing around, doing nothing but waiting while people are suffering… it's not a good feeling at all."

Soon all eyes went to Nick Fury, everyone wondering what he would say. He simply glowered at Randall, clearly not putting any sort of faith into Randall's words. After a few seconds he intended to say something, but then pressed the comm-link in his ear and heard something, suddenly sprinting out of the tent and calling out to the others back inside, "Everyone, follow me, and quickly!"

Fury asked through his comm-link, "Talk to me Hill- are you certain it's him?"

Hill hurriedly affirmed, "It is- _Alex_ was that high ranking officer who took the briefcase. You have to stop him before he gets away with it!"

Fury looked back to Randall behind him- both still running- and commented, "Hidden from Alex, right?"

"I wasn't expecting him to be so bold!", Randall exclaimed. Iron Man retorted, "And we weren't expecting him to have the powers of a Skrull! But we could've known that sooner if _someone_ told us he was already spying on the guy we've been racking our brains trying to find- especially mine!"  
He directed his renewed aggravation to Fury, since the man held out on everyone else with the whereabouts of their mutual targets. Fury did not immediately bother trying to defend his actions, instead blurting, "Forget about blaming others- just find Alex and get back that briefcase! Fan out and look for anyone with a briefcase on them."

 _Meanwhile…_

 _Shit, shit, shit_ , Alex thought to himself. Blacklight asked him, **I could've told you this would have backfired on us eventually… oh wait- I did! Several times in fact.**

Alex growled and shot back, _It was working fine until now- and we have all of the information on those Viral Detectors and Bloodtox in this folder… and who knows what else. I say it was worth the risk._

 **You won't be saying that if we get captured** , Blacklight reminded him. Alex simply rolled his eyes and kept speed walking; instead of running like a madman and ensuring everyone would be suspicious of him, he just walked with a purpose, as if he clearly meant to be there. Every so often he moved between tents, just to avoid any soldiers who might see him and further avoid suspicion by not being at all.

Unfortunately the Avengers, Fury and his SHIELD agents, as well as a growing number of Blackwatch soldiers began fanning out and looking for anyone at all with a briefcase with them. And at that particular moment, only Alex fit that description, which forced him to move along even faster. His power walking increased somewhat, hoping he would be able to outpace the thorough searching everyone did.

Sadly that did not help enough- Hawkeye saw him move behind a tent, and even with the briefcase held in front of him, the archer still called out to everyone else, "I think I got him!"

With his cover on the cusp of being blown, Alex broke into a full superhuman sprint and zoomed past almost everyone, zigzagging between tents to further confuse the people coming after him. Blacklight urged him, **Do something else- they're nearly on top of us!**

Alex once again thought to himself, _Shit, shit, shit!_

Going as fast as he could, his mind raced almost as quickly as his feet did, and eventually an idea came to him. Looking around for the nearest Blackwatch soldier, he switched from a hurried and rushed demeanor to a calm and natural one, then walked up to the soldier to ask, "Could you hold onto this for me? I need to go do something."

The soldier simply shrugged. "Uh… I guess."

He took the briefcase and Alex walked off, going behind a tent before breaking into another superhuman sprint. For a few minutes the soldier stared at the briefcase in his hands, somewhat confused why the other soldier gave him it and dashed away. But in a few more minutes, he quickly understood why as Hawkeye, Iron Man and everyone else surrounded the man.

They all pointed their weapons at him while Iron Man declared, "Alright Mercer- game over! Give us the briefcase and come quietly. Anymore tricks and you're gonna get blasted."

The soldier looked down at the briefcase in silence for a few seconds before blurting, "Wait… what?"

Hawkeye told him, "Don't play dumb with us- we know it's you, Mercer. Who else would have the briefcase on him?"

"Uh, I just got handed this thing by some other guy", the soldier explained. "He ran off somewhere after that."  
Iron Man scanned the contents which dropped his Repulsor Rays and realize, "Wait… there's no documents in that thing- it's empty!"

"Empty!?", Randall exclaimed. He walked up to the soldier and took the briefcase from him, intending to open it up before coming to a realization himself. Randall stated, "The lock's been busted open", then opened the briefcase up without the key to reveal… absolutely nothing inside.

Iron Man threw up his hands for the upteenth time and shouted, "How does Alex keep doing this!?"

At that time, Alex went back to power walking, briefly looking back to see no one following him as they were clearly distracted by the quick ruse he came up with. He felt the urge to laugh as he thought to himself, _I can't believe that actually worked- ditch the evidence with the other guy and leave with the goodies inside in the process._

Looking down at his chest, it partially opened like a zipper to reveal the papers and other important documents inside. _Organic pockets… I gotta remember this trick for later._

Blacklight commented, **Yes yes… the plot armor is strong with you. Let's just hope it lasts long enough for us to leave without incident.**

 _No worry- we just need to find a quick way out of here and we'll be outta here, scot free_ , Alex replied. He went to the gate leading into the bridge that connected to New York, but with the heavy security and slow processing, getting through all of that before the Avengers caught him to him would be impossible. Going down to the docks where the boats were, Alex saw some of the SHIELD agents patrolling in that area and checking everyone who came near, so that would not work either.

 _How did we get here so easily again?_ , Alex nervously questioned Blacklight. It told him, **We hid underneath one of the helicopters as it flew from the city and into HQ. Going back the way we came won't be as easy- another scheduled flight isn't due for another… ten minutes.**

Alex asked, _Think we can wait it out until then?_

 **We'll have to if we want to get out of here** , Blacklight surmised. Alex looked around and found an empty tent to hide away in until the next helicopter would nearly leave. Since they were no longer in a hurry and Alex wanted to pass the time rather than wait an agonizing amount of time for their ride to arrive, Alex decided to pose a simple question to Blacklight.

 _What's your opinion of the Avengers?_

 **Why does that matter?** , Blacklight questioned. Alex shrugged his shoulders. _I don't know- I thought I'd just ask you. Gotta pass the time somehow, I guess._

Blacklight contemplated the oddball coalition of heroes for a moment before answering, **With the wide variety of powers and abilities they wield, I suppose that it makes sense how they've saved New York and the world many times over. The only reason they're having such a problem now is because it's not a single entity or group they can fight, but a literal plague that no amount of punching, blasting or even outsmarting will do.**

Alex agreed as much. _Sucks to be them; not to mention SHIELD is having the same problem. Hey, wait… how did Fury figure out what we were doing? We didn't get far before he and the others ran after us. He must have the safe house bugged, damn it!_

 **Hmm…** Blacklight wondered. **Any thoughts as to how we should we go about dealing with that?**

Alex stated, _Well, we can't just remove it outright- then they'd just come after us, especially if the impulsive Avengers learn about it afterwards. I think our best bet is to feed whatever spy tool they have in our safe house false information while we do our real planning somewhere else in the building. That's only a short-term solution though… I'll have to think about the long-term later._

He then commented, _Huh. This is the first time someone's gotten the drop on us; usually we're one step ahead of the others. I'm surprised we've even gone this far and won against the Avengers. Any idea why that is?_

 **If I had to guess** , Blacklight began, **I would have to think that it's due to the high "winning streak" the Avengers have against most opposition that they've encountered. The villain breakout, the Gamma World event, even the worldwide Skrull Invasion and battle against Galactus were odds the team still overcome.**

 _But now…?_ , Alex wondered. Blacklight finished, **But now they've gone without a battle of any kind for well over a year now. Coupled with the new powers we're developing every other day, and the Avengers just don't know what to do against us. But it's clear they're getting back into the "groove" of heroics, albeit slowly.**

Alex opened up the organic pocket containing the papers he stole from the briefcase and smirked. _I'd say that "slowly" is an understatement._

At that point he waited in silence- mental silence in this case- until boredom lead him to ask, _How long have we been waiting? It feels like it should've been ten minutes already._

 **It's actually only been about 4 minutes and 45 seconds** , Blacklight estimated. With that in mind, Alex wondered, _Anything else you feel like talking about?_

Blacklight admitted, **I've been somewhat curious if the Avengers truly trust Blackwatch or not.**

 _Well_ , Alex began, _they're a secretive organization that's been around for several years and yet no one's heard of them until now. They're heavily associated and involved with Gentek- a different organization that quite clearly has ulterior motives and ruthless methods of dealing with those they deem a threat to their security. If all that wasn't even enough, they've also gone along with the bended truths Gentek's fabricated about me and have used extreme force that would've conveniently silenced me so I couldn't even make a case against them, with my only saving grace being how goddamn unkillable you've made me. Thanks for that, by the way._

 **It all certainly makes for a compelling argument to not trust them at their word** , Blacklight surmised. **Although their efforts make them somewhat resemble S.H.I.E.L.D. and their clandestine methods, only far more crude and heartless.**

It added, **And there's the fact that with the measures** _ **we've**_ **taken to further our own goals, we don't exactly shine as bright beacons of righteousness. I mean the existence of Consumption alone paints us as irredeemable monsters. Blowing out a warehouse of soldiers with a stolen tank certainly didn't help.**

 _Yeah_ , Alex agreed. _I'm… I'm not getting out of this mess unscathed, am I? No matter what happens, I more than believe I'm going to end up in one of those special prisons for supervillains, or worse. Even if I prove my innocence, I have blood on my hands. I just hope Dana doesn't suffer for being connected with me._

 **Remember that she's nearly on par with cyber-terrorists considering what she's done** _ **before**_ **aiding in our little quest** , Blacklight reminded him. **She stole quite a substantial sum of cash from Mr. Stark recently, has disrupted SHIELD's global networks on one occasion, and let's not forget that not-so little incident with the Latverian private database. Why Von Doom has not done something against her attempted invasion of his privacy like that simply boggles the mind.**

A moment later they heard the sound of a helicopter rotor, informing them that their escape had arrived. Sneaking out of the tent and doing his best to be unnoticed while he approached the landing pad, Alex walked up to quickly ask the pilot manning the helicopter, "I've got important documents that need to reach our base down in the lower half of Manhattan as soon as possible. Can you take me there?"

"Just as soon as the helicopter gets refueled", the pilot answered. "Just wait here and a few workers will get it gassed up and ready to fly again."

Alex took his seat in the passenger side of the helicopter and discreetly took out the documents, stuffing them between the seat cushions for safe keeping. As he waited for the vehicle to be deemed airworthy after the refueling, he wondered how he ought to get back to his base without drawing any attention to himself, then ultimately came to an unfortunate but not unexpected conclusion- he would have to Consume the pilot. With a resigned sigh, Alex slumped back in his seat and waited for the inevitable to arrive.

To his dismay, however, some of the Avengers came around and forced the pilot to delay the takeoff; they wanted to inspect everything just in case Alex planned to leave via helicopter. As such, the disguised Alex remained calm and collected to avoid being detected, acting casual when Iron Man came around the corner to scan the pilot and his passenger. Iron Man saw nothing unusual about them- unaware that Alex's enhanced disguises could mimic the natural human body flawlessly- and failed to account for the simple idea that Alex could have taken the papers out of his body to specifically avoid being spotted.

When the Avengers gave the "all-clear" signal, the helicopter took off with a very relieved Alex in tow. He commented to Blacklight, _I can't believe we pulled that off. I was certain we would get spotted._

 **Perhaps next time you will be more discreet when attempting to pull off a daring stunt like that?** , Blacklight commented in return. **We may have unfathomable powers, but we certainly aren't invincible, especially compared to the likes of the Avengers.**

Leaning into a more relaxed position, Alex looked down at his disguise and flexed his fingers, wondering **,** _Do you think we'll get some better powers aside from shapeshifting and resistance to damage? Because I really want something I can fight with._

 **Barring the sudden appearance of hordes of Blacklight monsters fit for Consumption...** Blacklight surmised, **I don't think so.**

Alex proceeded to wait in silence for most of the trip, procrastinating for as long as he could to avoid Consuming the pilot, though he knew he inevitably would. To fill the void of noise and to relax somewhat, Alex decided to prod the pilot for some answers, to which he began, "So… what do you think of Randall?"

"If you're gonna ask about what ways you would murder him for fun, then I'm not answering", the pilot responded, almost as if he had answered an incredibly specific and highly disturbing question multiple times already, and had gotten quite sick of it. Thrown off-guard by the pilot's response, Alex did not know how to reply and remained silent for several seconds, until he eventually explained, "Um… I meant I wanted your opinion of him. Not… how to murder him."

 **Though that information may prove useful at a later date** , Blacklight admitted. Alex admonished him, _I'm not gonna kill that guy! At least not if I don't have to. Despite what the public at large thinks of me, I'm_ not _a sadistic monster._

Waiting to for the pilot's answer, Alex heard him state, "What am I supposed to say? He's our boss- not the boss of the whole organization, of course, but he's still the highest person on the totem pole most of us have ever met."

"Randall isn't the leader?", Alex questioned. "Then who is?"

The pilot sighed and shook his head, muttering aloud, "When the Hell was your Injection Date? _Yesterday_? Everyone in Blackwatch knows we're not supposed to blab about the big boss. Why are you even asking so many questions anyway?"

Alex felt increasingly uncertain of his position, believing he had just stumbled onto a topic everyone at Blackwatch- and only the people at Blackwatch- were privy to, but no one else knew about. He did his best to bluff through the conversation by simply stating, "Uh, yeah, you could say I'm… pretty new. I didn't get any briefings before I was deployed to deal with this whole 'Manhattan mess'. I know about Mercer, Blacklight and all that junk, but could you fill in the more obscure details for me?"

Once again the pilot sighed before grumbling to himself, "Fucking chatterbox…", and finally replied, "Alright, what do you need to know? And I mean _need_ to know, not _want_ to know."

Alex went, "Ok, um… when did you get hired?"

A moment of extremely uncomfortable silence followed until the pilot slowly repeated, "H… hired? We don't get… 'hired'. Are you defective or something? What lousy batch were you injected with?"

"Injected with _what_?", Alex demanded. "What are you even talking about? Is it Greylight?"

At the mention of that highly sensitive word, the pilot realized he had no ordinary soldier as his passenger and subtly reacted accordingly. Casually reaching down at his side- hopeful Alex would not notice- he wrapped his fingers around a weapon, ready to shoot him as soon as he had an opportunity. To his dismay, Alex did in fact notice and darkly remarked, "Do you honestly think a bullet's gonna stop me?"

The pilot replied, "Who said anything about a bullet?"

Alex dropped his disguise and lunged at the pilot, only to receive two prongs stuck in his chest which greatly confused him. A half-second later the pilot pressed a button on the side, activating the weapon's true function- electrocution. Alex endured several thousand volts coursing through his body, well above the voltage necessary to stun or even kill a regular human.

Doubling over in pain, Alex struggled to get back on his feet while the pilot went to his radio so he could call for backup. Desperate to maintain his cover, Alex yet again took a dramatic lunge, only this time he went for the radio; he tore out the cord in one swift motion and left the pilot with only one remaining option. The man unbuckled from his seat and forced the side door open, scrambling to jump out of the helicopter and into the waters below.

Just as he thought he would escape and be home free, Alex vaulted over to the other side and grabbed the man before he went down into the water. Pulling him back up, Alex held him up with both hands and slam his head into the metal floor repeatedly, eventually knocking him out cold. With that done, Alex sighed and did the dirty deed, Consuming the man and absorbing all of his knowledge and memories.

He immediately went to work maintaining the helicopter's altitude and redirected it towards his sister's base. Alex had a brief thought about somehow contacting her with the radio, but with the cord severed, it would be of no help until it got repaired at a later date. So Alex simply took hold of the controls and slowly flew back to base, though an odd thought came to mind not long after he took the helm, which he voiced to Blacklight a moment later.

 _Can I fit this helicopter in Dana's garage?_

 _Ten minutes later…_

"How the fuck did Alex fit this helicopter in my garage?", Dana wondered aloud. She stared at the vehicle situated right next to the equally absurd tank Alex stole from his last crazy mission, incredulous at the fact that her brother managed to get both into her garage… and that her contracter made her garage capable of housing two military vehicles in the first place. That had not been discussed in the base's blueprints, she felt sure of that.

Totally and completely engrossed in the sheer ridiculousness of having a tank and a military helicopter in her garage, Dana paid no attention to the figure walking up right behind her. When the person stated, "Dana", she yelped and turned around, held up a gun and fired several rounds right into the person's chest. When she got a hold of herself a moment later, she realized she just slammed a half-dozen rounds into Alex's chest.

An awkward silence followed as Alex simply stood there, arms folded across his chest and the holes in it quickly patching itself up. Dana also stood there, frozen with fear and unsure if she severely hurt her brother or not. When he eventually just asked her, "When did you get a gun?", she knew she had not caused any lasting damage.

Dana sighed and admitted, "Holy crap- I thought one of those freaks had gotten past the fencing- or a Blackwatch soldier. You can never be too careful."

Alex rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry, did you just say that last sentence? _You_ being careful?"

"I… whatever", Dana replied, exasperated. Looking down at her gun, she then answered his previous question with, "I got it from a gun store. Not like anyone's gonna miss it or anything. And yeah, I took some other stuff too, but I think this handgun will be enough for me."

Turning around, Dana began to walk back to the base but got stopped by Alex. He told her, "We have another problem- our little 'Fortress of Solitude' here… isn't so solitary. S.H.I.E.L.D. being the nosy bastards they are, have the base already wired up; they've known about our plans since the beginning. We've only gotten by through sheer luck."

Dana groaned. "You gotta be kidding me. When did they do that? And what the Hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm guessing they found out about your little hidey-hole sometime after you had it commissioned. For now, we'll find a different part of the building to talk in", Alex told his sister. "And we'll feed S.H.I.E.L.D. false information in the meantime. I don't know what we'll be able to do about their spying for the long-term, but that's the best I got at the moment. I don't suppose you have one of those movie-cliche 'red rooms' for us to use, do you?"

"As a matter of fact…", Dana admitted. "I do. Follow me."

The duo went into their base, careful to avoid the wire-tap hidden in their usual meeting room, and spread out the papers across a spare table and typical conspiracy theorist cork board, complete with some red string in a pile, just in case Dana happened to "connect the dots". Alex thought his sister went a little overboard with that but did not bother questioning it, and instead pulled out the documents from the Blackwatch base. As he laid them out for Dana to see, he glared from staring at the red lighting and then asked her, "Are rooms like these even necessary anymore? This all really does feel pretty cliche."

"I like the aesthetic", Dana retorted. "Sue me."

Ignoring her and focusing his attention to the papers, several things caught his eye- or Blacklight seeing through his eyes- as both seemed drawn to the most important details almost instinctively: a date, a town, an event… and the name of a person, which Alex spoke aloud with an unexplainable resolve.

" _Elizabeth Greene…_ "

( **Author's Note** )  
 **  
I would like to apologize on the lack of updates in the past few weeks as life got in the way with collage and finales and all that stuff. Regardless, Here is chapter 3 that I owe you. I will try my best to keep a consistent schedule, which is the standard of a post on a Friday every month if I can help it. Again, sorry for the long wait. If I miss one expect the next one. If nothing gets posted for a while then feel free to PM on the lateness and I will give a update chapter as soon as available as to why it is late.**

 **I hope you enjoy. Now onto the reviews.**

 _(SomeGuyOnlineXD: Great chapter_

 _I love prototype storys (sadly there aren't much of them)_

 _Can't wait until the next chapter)_

 **(Response: Actually there are plenty, but there are very few high quality ones. If were to recommend some I would check out A Dead World by Laluzi or Biomass Effect by Beastrider9. Still thanks for the appreciation.)**

 _(Greer123: Thank you for the reply to my review and I am glad to hear you are doing well. I am also glad to see that Fury and S.H.I.L.D are not being taken for a fool by Blackwatch in this story.)_

 **(Response: Appreciated, yea me and my co-writer Blitz King are making sure S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't as… ineffective as they were in the show. On that note, don't think blackwatch will be JUST physco cannon fodder like they were in the game, as shown in the chapter you just read, they aren't complete morons.)**

 _(Guest13: Rather interesting story. Keep it up)_

 **(Response: Will do.)**

 _(edboy4926: Awesome story_

 _Looking forward to more)_

 **(Response: Can't wait to provide.)**

 _(icedshadows: This is amazing. I really like this! hope you keep having fun with this fic and keep writting amazing Story!_

 _& ICESOME STORY FROM AN AMAZING WRITTER! !)_

 **(Response: Thanks is very much appreciated.)**

 _(Ultrahammer:_ _This is pretty underwhelming._

 _Alex Mercer gets easily defeated by the Avengers._

 _And Alex starts begging for his life and crying I'm innocent like a little bitch. It feels like Alex's character has been completely butchered in this fanfic._

 _Canon Alex doesn't really trust anyone besides a select few and he would never resort to begging for his life or crying like a child. The only two people he has been shown to trust is Karen and Dana._

 _Two people who were connected to his former life. He could simply use Shapeshifting at any time to escape. It makes no sense why he waited till later._

 _How would the avengers even find him so fast with next to no information about him. That makes no sense.)_

 **(Response: I am sorry that you feel that way, but there is reason for this. You see this story takes place after season 3 of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Hero's in which the last episode showed the avengers and all their friends take down Galactus the world eater. The avengers aren't exactly push overs. Not to mention this is the very beginning of the story as at this stage in both this story and the game Alex had not even acquired his claws yet and in this version, he has eaten a very little amount of people so he is not even up to full health. To reiterate a previously answered question, this a is a different version of Alex. In this version as seen, Alex was just alive enough to be brought back if not completely, along with blacklight together. This might not be the same version from the game, but I am trying my best to make sure this version is well written and emotionally compelling, I humbly ask you stick around and see where this leads if you are still interested. If not I am sorry, I couldn't make the story to your specific tastes, but the story is not finished so the most I ask is to at least stick around or at the very least to check it out when we have more chapters to post. I thank you for your review and I hope this cleared somethings up.**

 **(Author Note: Next chapter will be posted next Friday, guaranteed. Hope you all have good day.)**


	5. Chapter 4: Elizabeth Greene

In Dana's "conspiracy-theory" room, she and Alex poured over the papers that he stole from Blackwatch's outpost base outside of the city limits, and Alex spoke aloud the name of whom he believed to be the most important individual mentioned in the papers, even above Randall and some of the head scientists at Gentek. However, almost right after he spoke the name, "Elizabeth Greene", a sharp pain rippled through his Biomass and made him grip the edge of the table with the papers laid out over it for support. He took a single, long breath in and out, causing Dana to notice and question, "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"It's not me", Alex corrected. "It's something else…"

 _What happened?_ , he asked Blacklight. _Just as soon as I said that person's name, you… shivered? I didn't think that was possible given our current… condition._

Blacklight admitted, **I… don't know what that was. Something just… just clicked, like I know that person somehow. I don't know what to make of that, whether that's a good thing… or a bad thing.**

Alex guessed, _With our luck, it means something bad._

He snapped back to reality when he heard Dana reading Greene's file- "Let's see… born in 1951, moved to Hope, Idaho with her father in 1967 after her mother left to live with a bunch of hippies. Sounds like the start of a supervillain career already. In that year she raided an unfinished Blackwatch bunker with one of the hippies and was subsequently captured, then… experimented on."

Dana skimmed the lines and stated, "I repeat- start of a supervillain career."

Moving on, she added, "Greene was one of the candidates to be injected with something called 'Redlight'. Redlight… have you mentioned that to me before? Maybe in a past conversation or something."

Alex explained, "Redlight was the virus I helped manipulate at Gentek to create Blacklight. As bad as the chaos engulfing the city looks like right now… Redlight would have made it so much worse."

Dana nodded. "That's… good to know. Uh, moving on… the Redlight actually bonded with her instead of killing her. Doesn't say what it actually did to her, but I can't imagine it was anything mundane. According to one file- Operation Altruistic- the entire town was infected with Redlight and had to be annihilated. Again, supervillain origin."

"You're cracking an awfully large number of jokes about this person's history", Alex noted. Dana replied, "I'm trying to not let what I'm reading get to me. It sounds like this woman was a ticking bomb waiting to go off. I mean I just read aloud the entire town had to be destroyed to prevent. The only survivors were Greene herself and her… son? She had a son the operatives named 'Pariah'. There's not much information on him here aside from that footnote."

"Anything else at all?", Alex persisted. Dana looked through the papers again and answered, "Well… it mentions that Greene bit Randall's arm and he had it amputated so he wouldn't get infected. Guess that explains where his metal arm came from."

Alex continued, "Do any of those documents mention where this Greene is right now? If she was infected with Redlight, it stands to reason it might have considerably prolonged her lifespan. That sort of thing tends to happen in situations like this."

Looking through the files yet again, Dana explained, "It looks like she was first transported to For Derrick in 1969. 9 years later she was moved to the Vandenberg Air Force Base and experimented on by Blackwatch. Hmm. That seems to be right around the time when Gentek was brought into the fold; a 'Raymond McMullen' was hired to oversee the experiments."

"I met the guy once", Alex commented. "What. A. Douche. I'm almost glad I'm not working for Gentek anymore… bastards."

Continuing on, Dana resumed with, "Then in 1978 she was moved again to the Governor's Island Medical Station, right here in New York. And finally in 1989 she was moved to… the Gentek building, smack dab in the middle of Manhattan. What are the odds?"

"Well this _is_ New York", Alex pointed out. "If there's ever a good chance for the Apocalypse, it'll start here. More often than not it starts around Stark Tower, have you noticed that?"

Dana shrugged. "He's an easily hateable guy."

She then asked her brother, "What are you thinking? Do you think this Greene woman is at the heart of everything Blackwatch has done?"

Alex crossed his arms. "I don't know, but she's the best lead I have right now."

"It says her she's been in a catatonic state for some time now", Dana told him. "I don't know if it's to do with something specific that happened at Hope or just everything at once, but whatever the case, you'll have your work cut out for you if you wanna get intel outta her."

"Meeting her is my next move", Alex insisted. "I can't explain why, but I know it is. And no matter what… I'm getting something out of this trip. Count on it."

 _Meanwhile…_

The Avengers returned to the main tent to recuperate and plan their next move, though with their continuous failure to detain or even impede Alex, tensions were higher than ever and Iron Man in particular came close to his breaking point. He stood out near the edge of the pier, staring out into the distance to the city, the one he swore to protect no matter what. And now he could do nothing to save it; only cull the disease that had taken a deathgrip on it… and make those responsible for it suffering to pay.

Lost in thought and his brooding, Tony failed to notice someone walking up to his side, and only realized this when said person made a comment about the city. She said, "From this far away, it almost looks like the city isn't falling apart."

Tony turned and saw the absolute last person he honestly expected to see what with all of the chaos happening- his trusted secretary and lifelong friend, Pepper Potts. She stood beside him, clipboard in hand as usual, and looked out into the distance as Tony resumed doing the same. He commented, "I didn't think Blackwatch would allow anyone who's not an Avenger, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or soldier past the border, given the infiltration we just suffered from an hour ago."

"It's not like that Mercer individual would come back a second time", Pepper noted. "Not for any reason I can think of."

Tony sighed. "Look, it's nice to see a friendly face, but I'm honestly not in the best of moods right now. This is what- the _third_ time Mercer's made a fool out of everyone… including me? I just..."

"I know the recent lack of success in the 'superheroics' department isn't going well for you", Pepper admitted. "But that's why I came over here. I'm gonna be blunt, Tony- you're not going about this the right way."

Tony balled his hands into tight fists and turned to Pepper, snapping, "What, you think _you_ have a better idea how to take Mercer down?"

A moment later he released his tightened fists and sighed again. "I'm sorry, that was… I'm really have a bad day today."

Pepper, well aware of that and being an understanding and empathetic person, replied, "I know. And it's not that I think you should be fighting Mercer himself as Iron Man; I think you should be fighting what the man's actions have caused by being Tony Stark."

She continued, "Ultimately I'm here to talk about the company. Things have been looking up after the Galactus incident and supervillains have mostly stopped committing crimes. That's given you plenty of time to do your job at Stark Industries and help bring the company back up to a place the board is happy with. But ever since this new event and you donning the Iron Man armor again, I'm afraid things will go back to how they used to be- with Stark Industries taking the plunge into bankruptcy again."

"What are you suggesting?", Tony asked. Pepper responded, "This disaster isn't like the others you and the Avengers have stopped- the lives left behind will need some way to rebuild and get back to as normal as they can be. Iron Man can't help with that… but Tony Stark certainly can. I'm thinking that when the dust settles, Stark Industries can be there to take this catastrophe and turn it into an opportunity for 'building the future', like you often say. Even though getting around to actually doing it takes you a while."

Tony nodded thoughtfully for a moment until he heard that last part Pepper said. "Yeah, I tend to say phrases like… wait, what you mean 'it takes me a while'?"  
With indignation he retorted, "I've been building the future all my life! Don't you remember the time I built that energy shield for Cap? I mean that was actually the Skrull Cap, but you get the point. It could expand, turn into a protective bubble, transform into a combat staff, and there were other features too."

Pepper crossed her arms and had a small smirk on her face. "And how did any of that translate to improving Stark Industries' technology?"

Tony tried to find an answer but ultimately failed, at which point he admitted, "Fair point", then returned her small smirk and stated, "You'll be my compass and conscience for this next project… as usual."

Pepper's smirk grew. "As usual."

The two looked back to the city and drew slightly closer to each other, ultimately forming a friendly hug as they contemplated building the future. Before they could even discuss the actual ideas for going about that, however, an unusual and very unpleasant sound of someone loudly crunching potato chips interrupted their happy moment. They turned to see Hawkeye standing behind them with a bag of chips in hand, commenting, "And once again, the smooth-talking Tony Stark woos another lady. What's next- dinner and a movie? Maybe flowers and chocolate?"

Tony blinked and questioned, "Wait, what? Woo?"

He and Pepper looked at each other before the latter stated, "My life is eventful enough trying to keep you in line. Anything beyond friendship would just be chaos."

Tony agreed, telling Hawkeye, "You _do_ realize that not every female I meet is someone I try to land a date with. You've heard of _platonic_ friendships, right?"

Not believing him for a moment, Hawkeye shrugged off his words. "Right, right. Didn't you once try to go to dinner with Wasp one time? And rumor has it you even tried with Maria Hill? What woman _won't_ you try and date?"

Tony grew annoyed by his coworker's comments and retorted, "I guess you're right, Clint; I've tried to date most women I meet at least once. Maybe I'll ask the _Black Widow_ to dinner and see how things play out."

Hawkeye stopped crunching his chips and gave Tony a death glare. He warned Tony, "You go in 100 feet of Natasha and you'll get an arrow right where the sun don't shine."

Rolling his eyes, Tony asked him, "Now did you come out here just so you could ruin the platonic moment I had with Pepper about the future of the company, or did you actually have something important to say?"

Hawkeye finished his chips and replied, "Yeah- apparently that Parker lady wants us all back in the main tent. We're gonna meet the head honcho of Gentek himself and some other guy too- Crossbones, I think his name was? No, I'm thinking of some other guy. But anyway, I bet you ten bucks that they're both total jerks."

The three of them arrived at the main tent and went inside, seeing the rest of the Avengers, most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, as well as some agents of Blackwatch and a few scientists from Gentek. Among the ranks of the latter two organizations were a pair of entirely new faces not seen before by the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. At least they all thought so at first; as it turned out the second person there whom Hawkeye forgot the name of had been at prior meetings, he just blended in with the rest of the soldiers too well to be properly noticed.

In any case, General Randall personally introduced him to everyone else, stating, "This here is Captain Robert Cross, our field commander here in Blackwatch. Some of us call him 'The Specialist', and with good reason. He's by far our most capable soldier and will be joining you on all future excursions into the city."

Cross wordlessly nodded to the others, with varying responses to him in return; Captain America in particular seemed unusually focused on Cross's expression, with him believing there to being something… not quite right with the silent soldier. But in the interest of listening to what Karen Parker had to say about the other person they would be introduced to. She stood beside the new man and stated, "Here with us now is the founder and head researcher of Gentek, Dr. Raymond McMullen."

Dr. McMullen stepped forward and told everyone, "I have been informed of the current situation and… recent events. Suffice to say I am not pleased by these kinds of developments. Not at all. I would have thought the number of agents and metahumans onsite would have been enough to contain our mutual adversary. It appears that I was wrong."

Hawkeye whispered to Iron Man, "Told you he was a jerk."  
Iron Man elbowed him in his side to shut him up while he continued to listen to what McMullen said, where he went on to add, "The loss of the briefcase's contents is especially disturbing- it contained highly sensitive data and information that could lead to any number of disasters if ZEUS followed up on and exploited any one of them."

"ZEUS?", Captain America questioned. "You mean Alex? Why are you comparing him to a Greek God?"

Dr. McMullen explained, "It is the codename that Gentek and Blackwatch have officially given to the target. Given his rate of biological development in conjunction with our projected estimates on his continued growth, our virologists believe he will surpass all known metahumans and empowered individuals if he is not contained _before_ passing that threshold. We also initially thought of referring to it by another codename- 'ODIN'- but given our present company, it would have simply made referencing the target in future missions rather awkward."

Thor, growing more irritated by McMullen by the minute, simply grunted and added in a sharp tone, " _Verily_."

Concluding his assessment, Dr. McMullen finished, "With all of that in mind, both Gentek and Blackwatch believe enlisting Captain Cross for all impending assignments should be enough for the inevitable and absolutely necessary detainment of ZEUS. If the target is not apprehended and detained before reaching the projected threshold… there will be _nothing_ in this world or any other that can stop it."

General Randall commented, "Let's hope so; this whole venture has been one disaster after another. But I can't see how things could possibly get worse."

As if right on cue a soldier gave a prolonged groan, after which he added, "And here we go again…"

"Excuse me?", Randall demanded to know. The soldier simply replied, "Just wait for it…"

A moment later Ms. Parker's phone rang, and when she answered it and began a one-sided, rushed conversation that caused her face to turn white with fear, outrage and a hint of panic. At the end of the conversation, she handed Randall the phone for him to pick up where she finished, though she added before he answered the phone himself, "Greene… is active."

Randall's own face paled as soon as he heard those words, though where Ms. Parker spoke with a quiet fear, the grizzled old general bellowed, "SHE'S WHAT!? She hasn't been active in over 50 years! Why now?"

Before anyone could begin to ask questions, the sounds of panic, gunfire and something quite inhuman reverberated through the phone's speaker, causing everyone in the room to feel anticipation for their next mission. As gunfire gave way to screams of defeat and death, Randall sighed and ended the call, handing the phone back to Parker and commenting to himself, "I should've known this day would come…"

He then told them all, "Everyone- time to mobilize. It looks like someone went and poked the dragon."

Wasp hesitantly inquired, "Um… can I ask what 'dragon'?"

Randall grimly answered, "The one named Elizabeth Greene."

 _Meanwhile…_

Alex surveyed the Gentek building from his vantage point, seeing everything going on down below from the rooftop he stood on, hidden out of view from anybody who might have seen him otherwise. He watched the last employee in the area pack up his things in his car and speed away in a hurry, as if some disaster would strike the area soon. Since Alex knew no one had seen him he ruled out himself as the prime suspect, but knowing that only fueled his desire to learn the true cause of why the people left in such a hurry.

Taking a running leap off the building, he soared through the air and landed in the parking lot with a heavy thud. Alex looked around one last time for anyone who could be a witness, but the unusual evacuation left the surrounding city block as a modern ghost town. He did not quite know what to make of the sudden vanishing act, but considering his fluctuating luck, he believed it meant things were about to go off the rails.

At the very least, the lack of people meant getting into the building would be no issue, and Alex found just how simple it would be by casually yet cautiously walking through the doors and down the main hallway. The empty and unearthly quiet rooms gave Alex an uneasy feeling, which only grew the further he walked in. After passing about the third or fourth turn he took, he came to a realization that he immediately questioned, aloud in fact- "How do I know where I'm going?"

 _Or the better question is…_ , he questioned in his mind, _how do_ you _know where I'm going?_

Posing the question to Blacklight, of course, the virus hesitated before admitting, **I… really don't know. I'm feeling some sort of- of-** _ **tug**_ **, like something is drawing me towards it. To Elizabeth Greene, I assume.**

Blacklight then added, **The tendrils growing everywhere make the path obvious too.**

Alex blinked and looked down, enhancing his vision and viral senses until he became aware of something growing at the microscopic level- a virus not unlike the Blacklight strain, but… older, more primal. It did not take him long to understand and realize what spread through the Gentek building, and what sent the workers fleeing… _Redlight_. But since Alex felt no change at his own viral level, he assumed he had an immunity to it from the get-go, and thus carried on to finally locate Elizabeth Greene.

The tension he felt from entering what quickly became a highly dangerous and forbidden place Gentek forsook became all the more clear when Alex noticed the first body. Laying across the floor in what first appeared to be a puddle of blood, it quickly became apparent that the Redlight he detected earlier had broken containment and claimed many victims before everyone else realized they needed to flee. The virus infected and killed several dozen people, then set to work mutating their bodies into… things.

 _What are they evolving into?_ , Alex wondered. Blacklight grimly surmised, **It's nothing good, I imagine. I may have been spawned from an incomplete virus, but these people are being subjected to a primordial pathogen that hasn't been seen since Hope, Idaho. Odds are we'll survive this secondary breakout; as for the rest of the city… probably not.**

Alex rolled his eyes. _Glad to see you're being optimistic about all this._

Blacklight simply countered, **Would you be?**

With that cheery thought in mind, Alex followed Blacklight's sensory trail all the way to an… elevator. Alex sighed and went to press the button to call it down, but since he did not know which specific floor to go to, he instead pulled the doors apart with his bare hands and manually climbed the rope wire all the way to the top. He felt thankful that his hands quickly grew rough to counteract the slippery coating the rope coil had, as well as the fact that he did not have to listen to annoyingly happy elevator music while continuing his journey.

Once he climbed his way _up_ instead of _down_ \- which confused him because he thought someone as dangerous as Greene ought to be locked away in- Alex reached the correct floor and leapt to the wall, pulling apart the doors the same as he did before. But unlike last time, he had to deal with built-up blobs of Redlight which kept the doors together. He peered inside, wishing he had the foresight to bring a flashlight with him, and muttered, "Is this what I made the Blacklight virus from? Urgh."

 **I'm not happy about looking like that either!** , Blacklight declared with some level of indignation. Nevertheless he and Alex carried on into the depths of the floor, which the latter estimated to be around the middle of the Gentek building. Reaching a door blocked by a particularly massive amount of compounded Redlight, Alex took a deep breath and forced his way through the viral agent, shuddering despite the virus itself being quite nourishing to replenish his own Biomass.

At the same time he felt the Redlight virus react to his intrusion, almost as if it sent a signal back to the source which informed the originator of his presence. With such an unpredictable and unknown individual like Greene, Alex had no idea if losing the element of surprise would be a bad thing or not. Upon finally entering the epicenter of the new outbreak, he decided that having surprise on his side would have been a nice thing to have.

He slowly walked in and saw the sheer amount of Redlight snaking across the walls, floor and ceiling, hesitant to go anywhere near the very center of the room, even though he knew he had to. Alex saw the enclosure Gentek held Greene in- a large glass box that had become mostly covered in Redlight by this point, though certain parts were less coated than others, and he kept walking around until he came across a gap just big enough for him to peer into. The interior appeared surprisingly clear, with someone Alex naturally expected to see; her physical appearance on the other hand alarmed him quite a bit.

Although she did not appear physically like a monster, like those seen roaming in the Red Zones, the oddities she did have gave Alex cause for concern. Greene wore a medical suit that covered nearly her entire body sans her head, with a tight collar which wrapped around her neck by several straps. Her face in particular unnerved Alex for an reasons mostly unknown, though he could guess why if he had to- the scars on her right side, the tattered, unkempt hair, and worse of all… her smile.

Despite everything Greene had endured during her unnaturally long lifespan, she appeared to have waited out the decades in the cell Gentek kept her in through simple meditation. Sitting cross-legged on the ground and keeping her eyes closed, she waited out the isolation and experimentation, perhaps losing her mind in the process… but not her iron will. She also seemed to wait for something in particular, or even some _one_ , as when she finally opened her eyes, her attention gravitated towards the gap the Redlight left, leaving her almost face-to-face with Alex.

However her serenity left her almost immediately- Alex did not know what caused the shift in her mood until moments later later, but her face went from pure happiness to surprise, and then from surprise to anger, and finally from anger to utter hostility. Greene immediately stood up and balled her hands into fists, telling Alex, "You… you're not…"

A moment later she brushed aside whatever thought she had before and instead declared, "The time for waiting is over…"  
Pointing her hand at the reinforced door which should have kept her contained, several Redlight tendrils wrapped around it, crumpled it and tossed it away like an old newspaper. Greene stepped out and walked around the side of her cell, going directly for Alex; he in turn backed away slowly, hoping to find a peaceful solution to what would otherwise be a violent confrontation. After taking three steps backward, Alex quickly told her, "Hey, hey, hey- we don't need to fight. I came here to free you."

"I could have been free whenever I wished", Greene stated. "I only went where my captors wanted me to go because I chose to."

She lamented, "I thought my son would come for me, I could leave, and we would be a family again. I thought… that was you."

Alex admitted, "I'm sorry, but I'm not. I could help you find him though! Gentek and Blackwatch screwed me over like they did you all those years ago. But if we work together, we could-"

" _No_ ", Greene asserted. "I don't need you. I'll find my son on my own- I've waited long enough here, I've _suffered_ long enough here… and my captors haven't had their _own_ suffering yet."

Taking a moment to collect her scattered thoughts, Greene stared down Alex right in the eye and decided, "And as for you… whatever it is that you are..."

Suddenly she held a hand up to his throat and lifted him up into the air; her grip had more strength than Alex could break free from, and she slammed him into the wall behind them both. Redlight formed around her hands like a fine mist, reaching right into Alex's body and mind and seeing all of his memories. Though he never directly used her to further his own ends, he nevertheless used her Redlight to create his Blacklight, and that enraged Greene just as much for an important reason Alex would discover in a few moments.

With her own virus forcing itself into Alex's mind, he himself became capable of seeing into Greene's own scattered, fractured and tortured mind… and then he heard the _voice_. Alex should have guessed that he could have encountered something like it given the fact that he himself had Blacklight talking in his head, but the idea just never occurred to either of them. But now they both heard it and it terrified them; the Redlight virus _spoke_.

 **YOU...** , it began. **YOU TOOK US; MADE US INTO MONSTERS; MADE OTHERS INTO MORE MONSTERS; NOW YOU COME FOR US YOURSELVES!?**

Blacklight, also connected to the "link" that Redlight set up, hastily replied, **We were just trying to help and get answers! Is that so wrong?**

 **THEY HURT US; CUT YOU AWAY FROM ME, FROM THE HIVEMIND; IT STILL HURTS; I WANT IT TO STOP!**

Alex struggled to break free from Greene's grip, regretting having ever gone to the trouble of stealing the documents that lead him to her. He desperately kicked her in the gut to make her loosen her grip, but his effort only made her toss him away like the Redlight did with the door to her cell. Getting back up, Alex just had a few seconds to regain his bearings before he saw what Greene did next.

With a simple raise of her hand, the Redlight growth everywhere began to rise with her, and both tendrils and unusual silhouettes moved around in the darkness. Alex watched everything move around in an odd mass of flesh and viral biomass before his vision got cut off. With all that just went on moments ago, Greene tossing her old prison cell at him caught him completely off guard.

 _Meanwhile, outside of the Gentek building…_

The Avengers, several agents of SHIELD and Blackwatch soldiers arrived on the scene to investigate the disturbance at Gentek's former headquarters; according to what Randall had to say, something dangerous had been unleashed and now festered within the building's walls. When they came close enough to the complex, Hawkeye stared at it for several seconds before asking, "What is that stuff?"

Iron Man flew closer in and scanned the red gunk growing around the facility at an alarming rate; in astonishment he commented, "It's… pure viral biomass. Somehow its growth has accelerated to the point where it's physically visible to the naked eye. No microscope needed here."

Black Panther did a scan of his own and added, "Its composition appears to be similar to Blacklight, but not as refined. This is either a variation of the Blacklight virus… or the source."

"Mortal science is to blame for this?", Thor dryly mused. "How shocking."

Hawkeye retorted, "And your brother screwing around in Magic Land nearly destroyed all of reality. At least science hasn't messed up that badly yet."

Thor simply replied, " _Yet_."

"Alright everyone, focus", Captain America asserted. "We need to be ready for anything that comes out of that building."

A moment after he said that, Alex and several tons of metal, glass and concrete blew out a good portion of the Gentek building's wall and sailed well past everyone; they all heard Alex shout, " _FUUUUCK!_ ", as he soared through the air and crashed onto the ground. When the dust settled and everyone saw the pile of rubble the debris crumpled into, Iron Man stated, "OK, I'll be the first to admit- I wasn't ready for that."

They then turned their attention back to the building as more windows shattered and a single individual landed on her feet to the concrete below. She stared at them all, unsure of who or what they were, but when she saw the ranks of Blackwatch's soldiers with them, the woman decided they were all her enemies and treated them as such. A single wave of her hand summoned a horde of minions to her aid, shattering dozens more windows as they crashed to the ground but got to their feet; dozens of regular infected and larger, less humanoid creatures lumbered to her side.

With another simple hand wave, she ordered them, "Kill… them… _all_."

( **Author's Note** )

 **What do you know? I actually made good on my promise last week! Hooray! I should clarify that with me and BlitzKing schedule we will try to post a chapter a month on a Friday. Not a chapter a week. We both want to give quality work so it will take a while. We have the next chapter ready for next Friday, but after that we are going to take a few weeks to get the next chapters done. I think this is how our schedual will work. We make the next 3 chapters then post one each Friday and get to working on it once the last 3 are posted online. I hope this clear some things up. Anyway on to the reviews!**

 _(edboy4926: Awesome chapter._

 _Nice to see this back._

 _Question, since you already putting Prototype as an AU, any chance that in this universe Greene is actually a good guy? That once Mercer frees her, she actually joins his group? Have yet to find/read a fic where that happens.)_

 **(Response: I believe this chapter just answered your question. I hope a more developed and powerful Greene works just as good.)**

 _(Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: Another chapter to feed my Prototype fandom addiction. i feel like giving that game another spin. I like how Mercer didn't lose his memories, that one aspect makes him really enjoyable to read about and especially how utterly confused everyone is. Seeing Tony terrified enough to shit himself though, is hilarious. Thanks for the Chapter!)_

 **(Response: You have no idea how relieved I am to here someone like the direction in the story we are taking with Alex. Me and Blitz were kind of self-conscious about that considering it's pretty different form the source material, but hey the game did it's own thing as so are we. I am also glad to deliver on your Prototype addiction. I have my own problem too and this is helping.)**

 _(Leader: Is Alex going to get all his abilities and powers and get them fully upgraded and will he get all web of intrigues?)_

 **(Response: It's pretty much completely against the character to not have the powers he had in the first game, and as for the web, he technically already has that, as that is where the additional memories are from. Only now without the burden of amnesia. I'll be honest I think we just forgot to bring attention to that, but it's still in effect so no harm no foul.)**

 **(Anyway that's everything. I hope you all have good day.)**


	6. Chapter 5: Better Yet Worse

Taking defensive stances, the Avengers formed a circle to cover their flanks as the hordes of weak, zombie-like infected shambled towards the tightly-woven team, and the larger, less humanoid infected in the background circled the group, searching for the Avenger's weakest teammates. Choosing Hawkeye and Black Panther as the weakest of the team, the methodical monsters lunged at them, initiating the siege and onslaught between Avengers and abominations. Iron Man flew into the air and fired both of his Repulsor hand beams, scattering the first wave of infected and giving everyone else ample opportunity to dish out some damage of their own.

" _Hold the perimeter!_ ", Captain America declared as he threw his shield and had it violently rebound off several infected. "If they pierce our armor, we're as good as dead!"

Thor whirled his hammer and tossed it into a crowd of infected, electrocuting all of them with lethal bolts of lightning before Mjolnir returned to his hand. With the Hulk close enough to him, he commented, "You and I should be fine- mortal science means nothing to me, and the worst it has to offer does almost nothing to you. I ponder why we even donned these suits in the first place."

One of the heavily mutated infected rushed towards the God of Thunder and leapt at him, but before it could make contact and knock him over, the Hulk grabbed its head and held it in one hand. He answered Thor's question with, "Aesthetic", before he applied a great deal of pressure to the creature's skull, crushing it in moments. Before it died it desperately scratched at the Hulk's arm but ultimately failed, and he hurled the body at more infected and moved on to the next mindless monsters that attacked him.

Though it appeared at first glance that the Avengers were holding their own well enough, they experienced an increasing number of close calls- one brute quickly pinned Hawkeye to the ground and tried to tear his head off, but an arrow of high density foam through its gaping maw for a mouth suffocated it, giving him a short reprieve. Panther's usual tactics of agile leaping and vibranium daggers ended up forcing him right into the fray, fending off the advancing hordes by combining two daggers into a full staff. As the fight continued, it became clear that the Avengers needed the help of the Blackwatch soldiers to turn the tide.

Captain America broke off from the rest of the group after recovering his shield and sprinted across the battlefield, dodging both regular and enhanced infected until he came close to where Cross and the soldiers were just barely holding their own against Greene's hordes. Accelerating his sprint into a full-on charge with his shield raised, Cap bashed himself into one of the larger infected that went right for Cross. Once he came close enough to the man, Cap explained, "We need to fall back and regroup at some place defensible- we're all too exposed out here in the parking lot!"

Over the rattle of bullets his subordinates fired off, Cross replied, "Got it! Let's move, men!"

The solder slowly worked their way backwards towards the buildings behind them, forming two rows that faced towards the buildings and those facing the horde, and each provided cover fire for the other so neither side could be flanked. As they retreated to better defenses, Cap contacted the Avengers through his ID card and directed them to the rendezvous point. The heroes who could fly gave crucial air support for their ground allies down below, and they too retreated to their leader's chosen safe zone.

Captain America moved over to his own team as Blackwatch and the Avengers converged on the parking lot entrance, still inching their way across the battlefield and to the building not far behind them. Cross followed Cap's movements when the teams drew near enough, resulting in them double-teaming a horde of regular infected among a single large one. Both men moved in ways that could almost be described as graceful, skillfully ducking and dodging the lumbering and fumbling infected, Cap knocking them down with his shield while Cross brandished a stun baton and a gun.

While Cap took down his opponents with sheer lethal force, Cross quickly moved around his foes and zapped them in place with his stun baton, using the opportunity to shoot them point blank in the head and kill them that way. When the last of the normal monsters were dealt with, the two soldiers focused on the big brute before them. Taking another running start, Cap knocked the monster straight into Cross's direction, which he used to jab the beast in the stomach with his baton before firing several rounds into its head, wounding but not killing it. Using the opportunity, Cap charged once again with his shield and swung the edge at the creature's throat, slicing it open and taking it down for good.

Going back-to-back when more infected shambled over to them, Cap took a moment to comment, "You move pretty quick, even for a trained soldier, I mean."

Cross smirked and countered, "You move pretty quick too, for an old war vet, I mean."

When the two converging teams came close enough together and reached the buildings, Cap called out to Thor, "Destroy all the side alley and openings! We need a choke-point to funnel the infected; make them come to us on _our_ terms!"

Thor raised up his hammer and summoned several bolts of lighting, each one of them hitting the paths between the buildings with precision- that caused enough rubble to form and make traversing them incredibly difficult, if not impossible for the average infected. After he finished with that, he showered the main road with even more bolts of lightning, annihilating swaths of infected. Right as the Thunder God completed his task, Cap turned to Iron Man and the Hulk to order them, "Pile up these abandoned cars and turn them into barricades for the soldiers! It'll give us some better defense while the infected advance!"

The two Avengers overturned several cars and gave the Blackwatch soldiers a height advantage, allowing them to spray the infected in the front rows and back rows with a hailstorm of bullets. Once the barricades were fully formed, Cap went over to the Hulk and asked him to do one last thing before he went back into the fray- "Tear up the main road; it'll slow down the infected even more! But don't end up making a hole into the sewers, or they might end up in uninfected parts of the city."

Moving in front of certain groupings of soldiers, the Hulk put his foot down- quite literally- and caused the asphalt to break apart, making it incredibly uneven and almost impossible for the infected to traverse. But despite all of Captain America's planning, it hardly halted the ranks of the abnormal infected Greene controlled. She marched right along with her troops and raised her hand, telepathically telling the less humanoid ones to scale the sides of the buildings and overcome the obstacles put in place.

The Avengers who were airborne redirected their focus on the special infected, but even then a few managed to pass them and reach the ground troop near the back. Tag-teaming once more, Cap and Cross held the line and took down whatever managed to get through. After another intense encounter with a big infected, the former inspected the carcass and stated, "All my years serving in World War 2, and the only freaks that even come close to what I'm seeing now were Arnim Zola's creations… but never on a scale like this before. Is there even a name for monsters like these?"

Cross replied, "General Randall had a name for them- Hunters. He fought them back and some other freaks in '64, during an unfortunate operation in Hope, Idaho."

Surprised and rather unhappy to hear about more secrets Blackwatch kept from the team, Cap asked him, "Care to elaborate?"

"Not until the mission's over, sir", Cross bluntly stated, shocking another Hunter to the ground before slamming a round right into its skull. Leaping beside the two men, an irate Hawkeye fired an ice arrow at another Hunter currently jumping through the air and caused it to land like an iceberg against the jagged road, splattering blood-soaked chunks of ice and infected goo across the battlefield. Having jumped into the soldiers' conversation as well, the archer quipped, "If you don't mind, Cross, I'd like to know at least where all of these freaks _are coming from!_ How can this lady have gotten this many bodies to throw at us before the city was evacuated?"

Cross only admitted, "It's Redlight- the precursor to Blacklight, and a whole lot worse than what came after. Let's just say Greene is good at growing… and recycling."

Hawkeye thought for a moment and then shuddered. "Actually… forget I asked."

"I've got another thing to ask myself", Cap continued. "If we take down Greene, will her army fall apart?"

Cross did not answer for a moment, contemplating the idea and weighing the consequences, but he ultimately agreed- "I don't think there's anything else we can do, so I say go for it. Someone needs to get past her army and take her out immediately."

Cap nodded. "I know just the man to do it."

Contacting Iron Man above him and the Hulk some ways away from him, he told them, "Hulk's been authorized to use lethal force against Greene. Tony, mind clearing a path for him?"

"On it!", Iron Man responded, pointing his arm in the general direction of the main street. He fired a missile carrying a dozen or so smart bombs, breaking off to target the Hunters clinging to the sides of buildings. When they all fell back to ground level, Iron Man called Hulk and told him, "Skies are clear- get Greene and just end this al- _wait_!"

A moment later Iron Man contacted everyone and relayed, "I see Alex Mercer; he's getting passed the infected and going right for Greene herself. He's gunning for her, he's leaping at her, and he's… being held up in the air by his throat. Now Greene's tossing him away… again. Not one of Alex's brightest moves, honestly, but it's still nice to see him getting his comeuppance."

Alex bellowed, " _NOT AGAIN!_ ", and sailed all the way over the Avengers and Blackwatch, landing somewhere beyond them. Hawkeye whistled at the sight before joking to the Hulk, "She's strong."

Hulk retorted, "Maybe… but _Hulk is strongest there is!_ "

He took a running leap and went right over the army of infected and Hunters, landing only a few meters shy from Greene's position. Despite several Hunters turning to fend off the Hulk's advance, he tore them apart without slowing down an inch, and he arrived right before their leader moments later. And even when Greene went toe-to-toe with the Not-So-Jolly-Green-Giant himself, his unyielding strength inevitably triumphed over hers; he smashed her against the pavement, nearby cars, and even through her own minions in a grand display of gore and carnage.

Applying as much strength as he could to crush her skull like the way he did with her Hunters, Hulk eventually let go of her- only to put her body with as much force as he could muster a split second later, careening her straight into the side of a building. With the battle seemingly won, Hulk wickedly smirked and walked away with no small degree of satisfaction… until Iron Man called him through the former's ID card. When the Hulk pulled it out, Iron Man stated, "I don't think it's over; still reading a life sign where you left Greene."

True to Iron Man's word, when the Hulk turned around and looked at the pile of rubble he left Greene in, the debris started to move and reveal the woman seemingly buried underneath to still be alive. Even after crushing her head, twisting and mangling her body and bones, Greene pushed away the crumbling concrete and pulled herself out of the mess. The Redlight virus coursing through her body immediately began to repair the damage inflicted on her, fitting bones together, stitching sinew together and even turning her head a full 360 degrees back the way it used to be moments ago.

When the bones in her jaw settled back in place, Greene scowled at the Hulk, calmly declaring, " _My_ turn…"

Raising both of her hands, she concentrated and unleashed a massive cloud of Redlight from every orifice on her body, generating a rapidly expanding viral fog which actively engulfed the battlefield and blinded everyone. With the Hulk in particular cut off from his allies, he nevertheless stood his ground and waited for whatever trick Greene had next up her sleeve. To his surprise however, the very ground beneath him began breaking apart, revealing a repulsive red growth under the asphalt which momentarily expanded upwards.

Iron Man and the other flying Avengers nervously hovered above the red fog, unable to see the carnage presumably happening down below. Switching to infrared vision, Iron Man ordered JARVIS, "Scan for all lifesigns and prepare to fire at almost everything, but filter out anyone emanating an Avengers ID frequency or Blackwatch radio signal."

"Very well, sir", JARVIS replied. Iron Man prepared another round of smart-bomb clusters and fired well away from the barricade, decimating more of Greene's forces and clearing away a small portion of the Redlight fog. Despite his efforts to stem the flow of monsters, it became increasingly obvious that the fog presented the greatest challenge, so Thor flew over to Iron Man and asked him, "Shall I whip up a whirlwind to remove this blight from the battlefield? It would not be the first time I've done something similar."

"That's only a temporary solution", Iron Man explained. "Greene is continuously producing more of this Redlight to blanket the area. The best you could do is knock her out for a few moments and take the fog away from here- that should buy everyone else enough time to get to higher ground."  
He activated his comm-link and relayed his idea to Captain America, and the latter accepted it- "We're sitting ducks out here as it is. But Hulk's still out there on his own; we need to get him over here as soon as-"

As if on cue, the Hulk flew through the fog and crashed against the side of a building, pulling himself out moments later. Cap updated Iron Man with, "Nevermind- something just threw the Hulk back over to our side. I didn't think Greene was _that_ strong, so what could've…?"

Suddenly the ground beneath everyone violently shook, crumbling the already destroyed street even further and revealing something pulsing underneath their feet… something _alive_. Cross's eyes widened and he immediately shouted, " _HYDRAS!_ "

Cap initially confused what Cross said with his old enemies from WW2, but right when a massive organic limb burst from the ground and tossed around nearby vehicles, he understood the man meant something far different. Looking at what he could make out in the red fog and not liking it, Cap decided his team and Blackwatch had no other choice but to reach higher ground. Thus he contacted Thor to order him, "Go for it!"

Thor flew higher into the air and swung his hammer around, blurring at blinding speeds until the vortex it produced began siphoning away the Redlight from the area, condensing it into a cloud he carried off beyond the atmosphere of the Earth. Moments afterwards, he divebombed right for Greene and stopped in mid-air, throwing down his hammer, having charged it with electricity on the trip back down. When it struck Greene and impacted the ground, it unleashed an enormous burst of lightning that blew away a good portion of her remaining forces.

When Thor held out his hand to make Mjolnir return to him, however, it carried an uninvited guest on it; a Hunter hitchhiked on the weapon and slammed into the Thunder God moments later. He grappled with the beast before tossing it a few meters right over him and taking a heavy swing with his hammer, which immediately splattered chunks of Hunter remains all over his faceplate. With a great deal of disgust, Thor wiped the gore from his mask and muttered, "Now I'm actually glad I wore the armor."

With Greene down for the count at the moment, Cap used the opportunity to tell everyone, "Head for the nearby buildings and get to the rooftops as fast as possible! And destroy the elevators and stairs so the infected can't follow you!"

Hawkeye snarked, "Do you really think those freaks actually know how to use elevators?"

Cap humorlessly answered, "No, but those Hunters can certainly climb. Now let's _move_ , people!"  
With little precious time to spare, the airborne Avengers carried whomever they could to the rooftops while everyone else sprinted up the stairwells, destroying them so the infected could not follow them easily. Right before the first people reached the doors to the rooftops, they took a moment to destroy the elevators as well, then arrived at the top of the buildings to continue defending against the Redlight siege. The altitude and terrain advantages the Avengers and Blackwatch soldiers now seriously hampered the waves of infected, limiting them to just the Hunters scrambling up the windows to reach them, but nevertheless, the monsters continued their siege...

 _Meanwhile…_

Deep in a rubble pile, not far from where the Avengers and Blackwatch soldiers held their "last stand" against the infected, Alex struggled to push the debris out of his way and reach the surface. Still somewhat disoriented by his contact with Redlight and more than drained after Greene's curbstomp battle with him, Alex nevertheless pulled himself from the wreckage and managed to tumble back to the street. He remained dazed and confused until a familiar voice mocked him, **I told you it wouldn't work.**

 _Shut up_ , Alex responded, feeling his strength barely peter back into existence. _I thought I could take her; now I know I can't._

Forcing himself onto his knees, then to his feet, Alex took a moment to bend and twist his body around- a few times in rather unnatural directions- to get his senses back in working order. He experienced a severe shiver of revulsion ripple all throughout his Biomass and remind him of just how primal and alien the Redlight virus felt to his own altered physiology. Taking a few steps forward and surveying the carnage around him, Alex questioned Blacklight, _Alright- attacking Greene head-on isn't working and I'm too drained to try another way, so should we just get the Hell out of here and go back to the safe house?_

His question got answered almost immediately- not by Blacklight itself, but by the sudden appearance of several Hunters who braved the broken streets and came to the other side. They turned to him and growled, and when Alex took a step back, they took a step forward. A split second later Alex broke off into a full sprint away from the Hunter pack and hissed through his teeth, "Shit- shit- shit- _shit_!", as the Hunters roared before racing after him.

 **Head for the rooftops!** , Blacklight urged him, causing Alex to head for the first building he came to and ran directly upwards, hoping the Hunters would not be able to catch up to him. To his dismay after arriving at the top, they were still on his trail and not giving up, which forced him to continue running and vault over to the next rooftop. Even as the Hunters followed suit, Alex never gave up… though he did quickly question the viral voice in his head, _What am I supposed to do now? These things aren't letting up and I got no way to shake them!_

 **There's only one solution I see** , Blacklight explained, **but it's bold enough to save our hide and quite possibly** _ **stupid**_ **enough that you might just like it.**

 _I'm all ears_ , Alex replied. After Blacklight quickly but carefully detailed his idea and presented it in a way that made it sound _almost_ survivable, Alex bluntly told him, _That's totally gonna get us killed… let's do it._

Searching for the tallest building in his immediate area, Alex leapt from the edge of the roof from which he currently remained on and reached the taller one, just barely escaping the clutches of the Hunters gaining on him. Once he reached the very top of the building he quickly but methodically scanned the area below him and around him, and just as the Hunters reached the top as well, Alex leapt off to reach his destination. Going down into the streets now, Alex sprinted as fast as his legs would allow, though now he ensured the Hunters could follow him, ultimately leading them into Blacklight's trap.

He got deep into the nearest Blue Zone and headed for the heart of the area- the Blackwatch outpost. Reaching the area just before the outpost itself, Alex stopped and disguised himself in a standard Blackwatch uniform, then resumed his run for the area, though now at a "normal" pace. Once he reached the wall and gate that lead into the outpost proper, he shouted, "Hey- someone let me in!"

"Wait…", a soldier on the other side questioned. "Who the Hell are you and what are you doing out there? I thought the rest of the soldiers in the area got relocated to our post. Where've you been?"

"I was in the Gentek building when Greene got out", Alex answered, merging his actual experiences in the research facility with the perspective of a Blackwatch soldier. "I got separated from the rest of my unit before I could leave with them, so I had to get here just on foot. Look, there's a bunch of super freaks after me and I need them dead before they kill me and us all. So you mind letting me in before I get eaten?"

The soldier hesitated, but ultimately relented. "Alright, alright…"

He radioed someone else to automatically open the gate, allowing Alex to walk in without issue, and he immediately headed for the warehouse portion of the base. Going inside, Alex slowed his walk into a calm but stern march, telling himself, _OK, I just gotta remember- if I act like I'm_ supposed _to be here, no one will question it. I just hope I have enough time to find a good hiding spot when those freaks show up and shit hits the fan._

Alex continued wandering around the base, careful to avoid coming into proximity of anyone else, in case someone wanted to speak with him. Fortunately everyone used their time to prepare for the impending arrival of the Hunters, putting every soldier in the building on edge. By the time Alex found himself hovering around the army trucks, all of the soldiers heard gunfire and shouting on the rooftops, and moments later the Hunters burst through the glass ceiling… and the chaos began.

While Alex would have normally leapt into the thick of it and battled both Hunters and soldiers, gathering strength and Biomass in the frenzy, his weakened state meant even a few stray bullets could severely weaken him. So as much as he disliked it, Alex hid away underneath one of the trucks and waited for most of the carnage to subside. He did not have to wait too long though- the soldier's coordinated efforts managed to cripple a Hunter enough for its demise to near, though before it could completely die, Blacklight insisted its host charge in and finish the job himself.

 _You want me to Consume that mess?_ , Alex mentally exclaimed, incredulous at the idea. _I have enough trouble stomaching regular soldiers; no way in Hell I'm eating_ that _thing._

Blacklight insisted, **Its inhumanity is** _ **precisely**_ **why you should Consume it. It's not a person anymore, so there's no need to feel guilty about eating it. And besides, it's got much more 'meat on its bones' than the soldiers do, and we could really use that extra Biomass.**

It added, **And if you're worried about us ingesting the residual Redlight in the beast's DNA, I think we've been exposed to the older virus long enough that it's unlikely to do anything harmful.**

 _Define "harmful"_ , Alex questioned. Blacklight insisted, **Just tear that freak a new one already.**

Alex audibly sighed and gave in; pulling himself from underneath the truck, he shed his disguise and sprinted into the madness, avoiding the other two Hunters and a hailstorm of bullets along the way. He arrived at the wounded Hunter while maintaining his speed, slamming right into the beast. With its reaction time seriously delayed, Alex managed to land a flurry of fists up and down its body, using its sheer girth as a shield against the continued onslaught of bullets fired at him from the Blackwatch soldiers.

Inevitably, Alex raised his fists and punched right through the Hunter's chest, tearing it apart and feeling his flesh turn to tendrils, Consuming the infected Biomass and adding it to his own. Once he finished, Alex stood right in the middle of the whole complex, feeling unusually sated… and feeling something else too. He did not exactly double over in pain, but it became clear _something_ would happen in the next minute or so.

His hands and arms trembled, shaking uncontrollably as if something wanted to force its way out of them, and in a matter of seconds, it did. Finally his forelimbs burst apart, spilling out Biomass that shifted around into appendages that barely resembled his original arms and hands. Lost in the animal aggression born from the union of his mind and that of the Hunter's primal instincts, Alex barely noticed his elongated, razor sharp claws; his eyes were on the targets all around him.

Any compassion or restraint he used to have vanished in the wake of this new madness Alex became awash with, and he leapt at soldier nearest to him with a howl that mixed his own voice with that of the Hunter's roar. Everyone desperately turned their attention and rifles to the newest threat, though despite their bullets piercing his flesh and tearing bits of it away, Alex would not be deterred. His claws tore right into the first soldier and pulled him to pieces, rending his flesh to chunks that Alex automatically Consumed as he went for his next victim.

Leaping and running around the facility, neither the battalion of soldiers nor the remaining two Hunters could counteract the madman's speed or ferocity. He bathed in their spilt blood and coated the walls in it as well, laughing insanely all the while. Alex charged at one of the Hunters and bellowed, "YOU THINK _YOU'RE_ A MONSTER? I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT A _REAL_ MONSTER IS!"

Alex's mania reached an all-time high as his Claws dug into the Hunter's flesh and came back out again, producing a great deal of blood and viscera. Stabbing back into the beast and pulling out almost rhythmically to his own twisted beat, Alex quickly heaved the whole creature in the air and tossed it into a crowd of panicking soldiers. As the sounds of violence steadily subsided as the Blackwatch soldiers fell by the dozens, the last lone soldier backed up from the insanity and shakily held his assault rifle, but soon he eventually dropped it and fell to his knees.

The man could not even react as the emotionless voice behind him coldly commented, "Pray if you want to, but no one's gonna save you…"

With everything and every _one_ all dead and in pieces, Alex went in the center of the building and looked around, his bloodlust failing as a result of the lack of targets. He soon regained his sanity and composure, the drive to kill fading just like a bad memory- only to come back in full force once Alex realized what he just did. Staring aghast at his horrid handiwork- stains and chunks of body parts splattered against the walls, vehicles demolished after being tossed around, and ludicrous amounts of gibs scattered all over the place- Alex fell to his numbing knees, unable to process the slaughter he committed in his insane rampage; even Blacklight's voice sounded muffled to him.

He did not even notice the shadowy figure who crept into the building when the carnage ceased, peering down below and seeing the lonely monster down below. The figure stepped back into the darkness to answer his ally without possible interruptions, telling him, "Iron Man- I've located Alex Mercer."

"Good work, Panther", Iron Man earnestly replied, though his voice sounded a little tense as he continued to battle the advancing hordes of Hunters coming after him and the team. "What's he doing right now?"

Black Panther leaned in to look at Mercer again, though the hooded figure had not moved an inch from his current spot, so Panther commented, "He is… experiencing a great deal of regret at the moment. I'm unsure when his feeling will pass."

"I… OK. Any chance you could take him down for us?"

"Not without additional aid from the rest of our team", Panther answered. "Alex assimilated the Biomass of a Hunter moments ago- it appears he grew claws of his own because of it. And it's clear there were no survivors in this Blackwatch base."

Iron Man grew concerned and eventually sighed. "I… you know what? Forget about him for the moment- you're needed back at the warzone with the rest of us. It's getting more hectic here every minute."

Panther nodded. "On my way."

He took one last glance at Mercer, who by now had finally started to move again, albeit sluggishly, as the weight of the massacre he inflicted still bore down heavily upon him, and left the building. Once Alex himself solemnly walked out of the facility himself, Blacklight's voice finally go through to him- **Can you hear me? Just say something!**

 _I'll never really clear my name, will I?_ , Alex lamented. _All this bloodshed, whether it's something I do because I had no other choice, or because I wasn't even in control of myself, it'll never be completely forgiven. I almost wish I was the monster that everyone thinks I am- at least then... I wouldn't be so burdened by my conscience._

 **You can't think like that** , Blacklight insisted. **You didn't ask to be a pawn in Gentek's plans. You didn't ask to do the right thing, risking your life by trying to smuggle that vial out of the city. And you didn't ask to become what you did after you and I… merged. There's been a great deal of unspeakable chaos going on for the past few weeks, but you have to remember that this all stemmed from Gentek.**  
 _And what about all of these lives I've taken?_ , Alex demanded. _I've got at least a hundred dead to my name by now, maybe more. I killed at least a fourth of them with a goddamned tank! How the Hell am I supposed to justify so much mindless slaughter!?_

 **I'm gonna be honest** , Blacklight admitted, **this may just sound like me hoping to ease your mind, but I'm not completely sure those soldiers are entirely human.**

 _What?_ , Alex questioned. _And what proof do you have of that?_

Blacklight continued, **Nothing but speculation so far, but something just isn't right about them. We know for a fact that something is supposed to happen when they're injected with that Greylight fluid. There's a point in all of their lives that they don't remember- none of them every volunteered to be part of Blackwatch. They just… joined after that blank in their memories. And then afterwards, they become… the best word for it is "deranged". They have near-sociopathic ideas and thoughts after that injection; we've even heard them talk like bloodthirsty maniacs when we first went to rescue your sister in the tank.**

 _What are you exactly suggesting?_ , Alex questioned. Blacklight simply replied, **I just don't think these soldiers are quite what everyone's lead to believe.** _ **And**_ **that crying over their deaths won't do you or I any good.**

 _But…_ Alex began, thought Blacklight cut him off almost immediately. **Redlight makes monsters; I, Blacklight, also make monsters. So what the Hell do you think Greylight does to those soldiers?**

Alex took a deep breath and exhaled. _Alright, fine, I get your point. I'm still not feeling that great though. And why are you even trying to help me get over this?_

 **Because if you give up and start brooding like some emo teen, I'm gonna have to listen to that crap all the time** , Blacklight stated. **And there's no way I'll let you put me through that if I can help it.**

Alex snorted. _Thanks for your sympathy._

 **(Author's Note: Holy god damn shit that is a lot of review's in just one week. I am so happy that this story is becoming so successful. With just a few chapters. Now Unfortunately this will be the last upload until we get chapter 6, 7, and 8 done before we start posting again, I know it will suck to wait, but that's only because me and BlitzKing want to give quality content for you to enjoy. Once they are done expect it on a Friday probably sometime next month. Anyway onto the reviews.)**

 _(edboy4926: Awesome chapter._

 _Well, while kinda disappointed that Greene did not side with Alex, at least she is 'sane' and has legitimate reason to be angry. Any mother would be. Maybe later on, she might side with Alex._

 _Reading about Cross made me remember something. In this universe, is he Pariah? Let's face it, that was the original theory in the game until it was proven wrong (even though that right now it feels more valid since no new canon information has come out)._

 _Also, after reading chapter I realized several things:_

 _1\. Both Redlight and Blacklight can only bond with certain people, talk to them in their heads, adapt to different things._

 _2\. Mentioned of a Hivemind._

 _3\. ''Checks the EMH wiki and Prototype wiki''...holy shit..._

 _Redlight and Blacklight are not viruses...they are SpiderMan Symbiotes aren't they?_

 _There is no canon origin for Redlight and in EMH Venom was not used, so he is a clean slate in this universe.)_

 **(Response: Well there is no denying the similarities between the viruses and the symbiotes, They are however unrelated, this will be cleared up in the next chapter, but do rest assured that we do have a origin for redlight and by extension blacklight, and I can promise it will be doozy. Can't say anything more then that. Spoilers.)**

 _(Leader: I have a hypothesis and a theory, that if the original body of the real Alex Mercer was used by the Blacklight Virus but after the nuke, it was straight up Blacklight Virus Biomass but considering your story after the nuke it will just bd Blacklight also its kinda like Venom so who knows maybe there is some synbiote dna in the virus which would be an awsome plot twist but now theory, I think after Mercer consumed Elizabeth Greene it took her way of thinking and insanity to take over which is why Mercer acts like he doe in Prototype 2 which could explain why he comes to that conclusion in the comics also I kinda put this other theory but basically comes from other fanfic of prototype which could be possible in-universe perspective though. But this question has been itching me since reading your fanfic story why is Karen Parker the CEO of Gentek when it was Mcmullian or however you spell, would that mean this Alex Mercer is Gaaaaaaayyyyy XD, but seriously why)_

 _(Leader: Continue this, it intrigues me, but do remember what I said, and your thoughts about it, but would it be funny, yes or no.)_

 **(Response: Before I answer this, please space out your review's next time. Anyway I can't give out any spoilers at this time but that is a interesting theory that consuming Greene is what turns Alex. Also there been a misunderstanding on our part, we will try to clear this up in the next chapter but simply put, McMullen is the CEO, Founder, and Head Researcher, Alex is top scientist in charge of Blacklight project, And Karen who is Alex's boss reports to McMullen as middle man or woman.)**

 _(Guest: also to my previous question what do you mean by this " It's pretty much completely against the character to not have the powers he had in the first game" does that mean he will or not I mean really If Bloodclan come to this universe which has to do with my o, they would give the avengers a bad time you know what here is a description from another review from another fanfic_

 _Leader of Bloodclan Dossier:_

 _Name: He has never used his real name but that it was Christopher but instead he uses his codenames and his fake names_

 _Fake Names: James Heller and Alex Mercer and Christopher Shepard_

 _Codenames: Arbiter, Alcatraz, Prophet, Shadow, Scourge, Reaper, Death, War, Purple Guy, Springtrap but mainly Shadow or Prophet or Arbiter or Alcatraz_

 _Sex: Male_

 _Species: Mainly Human(Halo Spartan4 in Heiloskrill armor and Crysis Nanosuit 2.0) and Evolved(Causal but sometimes used in combat Outfits Alex Mercer and James Heller and mainly in combat (Prototype 1 and 2 Blackwatch Soldier and Commander(when Prototype 2 Commander with helmet), Sangheili(), but also Flood, Cybertronian(it looks like war for cybertron soundwave sometimes shockwave but red and grey) Locust, Swarm, DeeBee, Ink Demon(Bendy), Animatronic(Springtrap)_

 _Hair color: black or brownish blonde(purple if in purple guy form, but in sangheili or cybertronian or DeeBee or locust form no hair) current hairstyle: military_

 _Eye color: Varies(entire eye sometimes becomes full black with white dots for the center of the eye only when in purple guy form, during bloodlust red, normal eyes blue)none if in madness combat form but red if in auditor form_

 _Personality: kind, caring, helpful, clever, funny, brotherly to female s only if he considers them like a sister, respectful, honorful, leading, commanding, strategically(to friends, allies, and comrades), charismatic, persuasive (if a situation requires it), will try to embarrass(Tatsumi to mainly Leone, Mine, and maybe Akame about about Tatsumi, to Leone "So why are you flirting with Blacklight Boy, to Mine: You're totally a tsuendare for Tatsumi".), helping those that are blinded by their beliefs of something or filled with lies and had their mind twisted by Honest(Seryu), trys to undo any kind of brainwashing or programming done to someone(Kurome)_

 _Dark Personality(but still in control of himself:bloodlust, sadistic, smart, vengeful, rip and tear, brings fear, likes killing, toys with his prey, pissed off, reaping, killer, demonic( to enemies, killers, those that want to destroy innocences, those that hurt or trys to kill or anything to his friends or someone he cares for like a brother, those that try to take the lives of the innocent, any corrupted guards and officers, and Honest)_

 _Background: Not much is known about him, the only things known is that he is human but is many other species in certain forms of his and his army is one not to triful with and has infinite resources and troops and ships and vehicles and consist of many different species and factions but all follow his commands and covenant, banished, unsc, promeathan, vex, fallen, hive, ceph, nanosuit soldiers(Crysis series), taken, cabal, autobot and decepticons(they can change to their regular size to human size)and guardians forces deal with enemies on the ground, air, sea and the might of his infinite army and ships with infinite ammo and they can't die but will respawn, and he will get all Sekirei to their chosen ashikabi but if he or one of his soldiers is their ashikabi then so be it but if a Sekirei is not in the hands of their ashikabi and was winged by the wrong one he will set them free and will stop any forced wingings with his soldiers and provide safetey towards the unwinged sekirei._

 _Powers: Blacklight virus (all powers upgraded), dark and regular energon, time abilities, TMD(look up singularity game and timeshift), dimension hopping ability, Sans powers(Error and Classic and Fresh Dust UnderFell and Gaster Sans from undertale and aus), fnaf abilities, forge mode, infinite ammo and grenades, typhon abilities(look up prey), convert halo universe people only to d, buffs to forces and allies and debuffs to the enemy, (all leader powers, units)(halo wars 1 and 2), and good with any weaponary and technology, teleportation, batim ink powers, Gravemind form, And also reaper from overwatch form and powers and personality all powers from hive vex and all guardian class powers and abilities( destiny 1 and 2) hunter form crotas end armor set with crotas end shader and sometimes taken king raid armor set with taken king raid shader and exotic armor and weapons and legendary weapons but mainly crotas end or taken king raid and doom slayer armor and doom 2016 weapons(fully upgraded), and Jedi and Sith force techniques and abilities and lightsaber attacks but he will mainly use the Blacklight Virus and his time and reality bending powers and Guardian class powers and abilities and Nanosuit, and force abilities and Zer0's abilities and sword and auditor and tricky and yeelon form and can us a improbability drive including a portable one and has forms of all mag agents but his main form is either mag hank or mag agent v5 but his main madness combat form has abilities and skills maxed out from project nexus which wears (links: . /revision/latest?cb20120418161458, . /revision/latest?cb20120415083406, ( . /revision/latest?cb20120418143603, . /revision/latest?cb20120425135741: this varies time to time), . /revision/latest?cb20120425135741)and two additional forms the riot guard and A.T.P. Engineer but his ATP Mask is only one of a kind (whose visors changes color: Yellow is a HUD display whidh displays the users weapons and ammo and health but for him is ammo counter displays infinite but still has to reload but if for example is a Minigun or anything that has a similar magazine like a m249 it is bottomless clip while he has a god mode for his health he can still be knock down and etc., Green has similar functions like Yellow but has night vision which can be turned on or off, Blue has both functions like green and Yellow but like yellow it display the enemys weapon and ammo and health and statistics and functions like its other blue visor brother from masness retaliationm Red has functions like Yellow but allows him to use the auditors and jesus powers including the improbability drive, White has functions like Yellow and Red but allows him to use his time and reality bending powers and healing and rezerecting powers, Purple Blackish has functions like Yellow bur allows him to use his yeelon powers annd abilities but unlike yeelon he has no connection to the being that controls yeelon and in place for that being is himself.)_

 _Weapons: Any that his army uses but mainly the energy sword called the Prophets Bane and storm rifle but will use Blacklight Virus powers._

 _Basically he would use his Alex Mercer form or his regular combat form he would use for when he uses the Blacklight Virus but his virus was modified where it produces Biomass itself to replace biomass if there is no biomass or the people he is around he doesn't wantto use them to replenish his but considering the universe he will consume infected, gentek, blackwatch personal that are not vital to Mercer like Karen Parker and where no other strains of Blacklight Virus depending on the multiverses and multiuniverses Bloodclan vist dominates his, now if he turns someone into a Evolved which he rarely does outside of Bloodclan and his strain can get memories without consuming which kills the person by going through the ears towards the persons brain which a tendril attaches to the brain and starts copying memories without infecting the person and a piece of biomass will move fast like a Lekghalo worm and reattach and dissolves and forms back into whatever was missing and as a preventive measure from infecting people it will only infect if he wants to and preventing anyone from studying or replicating his strain for example if a pieace of his biomass can't get to him it just terminates itself and dissolves even it atoms and molecules into nothing ,now he would be the only Bloodclan member in this universe kill only gentek, infected, and blackwatch but not anyone connected to the marvel universe like the avengers but for the avengers, he is just going to make them mad, embarrassed, insanely mad, and question logic of him for he is a Tier 0: Boundless_

 _High Outerverse level_

 _but he won't show it but he will make the avengers question Alex Mercer aka Zeus sightings and Mercer and him meet while the avengers are chasing him or Mercer and question which one is Mercer if my oc is in his alex mercer form but with gentek and blackwatch they will be like "fuck it take them both" until my oc displays his other powers and abilities._

 **(Response: Uh… While I appreciate the enthusiasm for the story and wanting to help with this OC I will have to decline as Me and BlitzKing already have a story planned out and I can't just rewrite the whole story just to put in a New OC in. I Apricate the offer and all, but I am sorry but to decline to put this offer. It sounds like it could be interesting, it just can't fit here. If anyone else is reading this please refrain from sending me requests to put OC's in the story. As to answer your original question, that was poorly phased on my part, every power form the first game will be in this story will be in here yes and there will be more powers to come. There is reason why McMullen doesn't want Alex to reach that threshold.)**

 _(Gravemind: Unleash the Flood, and I feast.)_

 **(Response: I believe your in the wrong universe. Go back and look under halo, that should get you back home.)**

 _(Moclab: Very nice chapter like addition to Green and Alex's personality if you follow through the game and Dana gets nabbed like in the game would you be willing to have be a perfect host for redlight like Green?)_

 **(Response: Please Clarify. I don't think I understood the question.)**

 _(Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: The game was never clear on Greene it a lot of things, to be honest. I like your interpretations of how and why things went down as the story itself was confusing for me to digest fully. The integration of both series where it isn't just a cut and paste, but actual interaction and reaction according to character make this a very fun, multidimensional series to read. It makes me think whether this character had this personality to react and act that way or not, then a satisfaction when they do match. Maybe Alex will be cleared up soon, but then again, I really do want to see him surpass this threshold that Black watch speaks of, it sounds far more powerful than his P2 version that so easily lost against Heller... I'm still really disappointed at that, to be honest. The only saving grace for that game was mechanics, as the story utterly crushed P1's legacy._

 _I know both of you will produce amazing chapters that I can bury that horrible memory with!_

 **(Response: I can't promise anything, but I can only hope me and BlitzKing can keep this bar up and hopefully keep rising it. And thank you especially for giving a well thought out analysis of our story and telling how to keep our story at the same if not higher quality then it already is. Really appreciate the review and glad to deliver the content you enjoy.)**

 _(Paradox009: This is superb. Can't wait to see what you have planned for this story. I always enjoy Prototype stories with Alex as a main character. Alex retaining his memories and Blacklight being a voice in his head is a great twist to the normal formula. Looking forward to more, hope you update soon.)_

 **(Response: Glad to see you enjoying it, we will be sure to keep going as long as we can.)**

 _(Scout: Madness Combat Grunt with boombox and another Grunt appears near everyone at the Gentek building._

 _Grunt activates boombox_

 _Boombox begins playing sparta remix_

 _Grunts start dancing to the music_

 _Everyone including infected are like WTF_

 _XD)_

 **(Response: … )**

 _(Greer123: Fourth Wall breaking powers are strong in this one.)_

 _(Greet123: I loved the way Thor showcased his hatred of mortal sience like he did in the show in this chapter.)_

 **(Response: Glad to entertain, and I wonder if that mindset will comeback to bite him back one day…)**

 **(Author's Note: That's everything, I hope you all liked the chapter and see you next month… probably. Later.)**


	7. Chapter 6: Rest After Disaster

Chapter 6

"Y'know…", Hawkeye began, "we've battled some pretty insane stuff over the years: bad guys teaming up as their own team, time-traveling tyrants, gods, psychotic robots built by our own insane teammates- and don't let Hank know I said that, by the way- and even a cosmic force of nature that wanted to eat our planet for lunch. And in all that time, I never really put much thought about our odds of survival. But here and now? Against all _this…_ I'm… still not all that bothered. How 'bout you?"

He stood on the edge of the building where the Avengers made their final stand against the endless hordes of Hunters Greene set against them, somewhat amazed that the woman could produce such a seemingly limitless supply. Quickly nocking one of his arrows, with his own supply dwindling at an uncomfortable rate, he took aim and chose his target, then released. The arrow swiftly embedded itself in the hand of a Hunter and sent it tumbling back down to the ground, taking with it a number of other Hunters like a vertical snowball effect.

Pulling out another arrow, Hawkeye turned to his conversation companion and continued, "So…?"

Knocking a Hunter scrambling to get over the ridge and to the Avengers with his shield, Captain America sent the monster back down and turned to Hawkeye to answer him. "Never felt better. Soon as Blackwatch's reinforcements and SHIELD come in, all these monsters are as good as gone."

Shooting down another grouping of Hunters, Hawkeye smirked and challenged him, "Betcha I can take down more freaks than you."

Cap smiled back, then took aim with his shield and gave it a hefty toss; it hit just about six or seven Hunters and sent them plummeting to their deaths before returning to Cap's hand. Looking back, Hawkeye stated, "First of all… show off. Secondly, that trash can lid of yours must give physicists a headache."

At that moment a particularly brave Hunter rushed over to their side and charged right for Hawkeye… only for it to receive a jab and shock in its stomach, and followed up with a bullet in its head for good measure. Hawkeye found Captain Cross standing right between himself and the fallen beast, having intercepted the sudden assault with swift timing and precise movements. After a moment, Hawkeye whistled and asked Cross, "You wanna join in on the bet?"

Cross grimaced and walked over to an underprotected section of the building, bitterly commenting, "Some hero you are…"

Hawkeye paused mid-nock and exclaimed, "And what crawled up your pants and died?"

"About several dozen infected creatures", Cross replied. "Some of which used to be people, innocents. A few might've even been children or infants."

Hawkeye sighed with no small amount of annoyance in his voice. "Do you have to ruin my fun like that? I'm trying to make the most of this, if you haven't noticed."

Cross simply told him, "Just try to keep that in mind."

As he walked away, Hawkeye muttered under his breath, "Buzzkill."

The endless siege continued for several more minutes, ultimately culminating as the longest fight the Avengers have ever been in at nearly an entire hour. After using up the last of his arrows, Hawkeye resorted to bashing Hunters over their heads using his metallic quiver, and when that broke he resorted to his bow to do the same thing. Just as his patience wore thin, Iron Man spoke to him and everyone else by pointing out, "Look alive, people! SHIELD's Helicarrier is on the horizon. Took'em long enough…"

True to his word, the Helicarrier appear in the distance and dramatically grew larger in size; by the time it came over the two buildings the Avengers and Blackwatch soldiers were fighting on, it blocked out a good portion of the sun's rays. Moments later a few dozen SHIELD agents flew down from the sky; some just wore their uniforms and jetpacks to fly, while others were completely decked out in Mandroid armored suits. Iron Man still remained peeved those suits incorporated Stark Industries technology, but with the current situation he and the others faced, he did not let it bother him too much.

Repulsor beams and other bolts of energy rained down from the sky as SHIELD's agents joined the fight, knocking down scores of the Hunters and giving everyone else a bit of breathing room. Soon the Blackwatch reinforcements came down as well, though they were only allowed to use their regularly weaponry and harnesses with rope in order to descend. Regardless, no one complained about the additional firepower they offered and gladly took whatever help they could get.

With their firepower combined, the three teams made serious headway into the hordes of infected, and at long last their numbers thinned to increasingly manageable levels. At one point Cross noticed more and more of the Hunters were actually running _away_ from the fight and not towards it, causing him to declare, "They're falling back!"

Captain America took a look for himself and studied the patterns they seem to form, soon realizing where the creatures were headed. He called out to all the people around him, " _The infected are headed towards the Blue Zones and the sewers! They need to be stopped before they escape!_ "

Anyone who could be spared to handle the new situation left the battlefield and flew over to where the Hunters scattered and did their best to decimate them before any could vanish underground. Unfortunately a few managed to leave the area, but it simply could not be helped as there were too many running every which way for everyone to handle. At the same time the other infected creatures were vanishing as well, such as the Hydras that burrowed deep underground- an event that caught Cap's eye and his concern.

Contacting Iron Man through his ID card, Cap asked his fellow Avenger, "Tony, do you know where those Hydra creatures are going?"

"Following them through my suit's thermal vision as we speak", Iron Man replied. "Reading lots of activity underground, mostly centered around the Gentek building. Not a good sign, obviously, but I'm not entirely sure what they're… wait, are they actually… no, Greene's not brazen enough to do that… no, she _is…_ "

" _Tony_ ", Cap insisted. "Some specifics would be greatly appreciated right now. What's going on?"

Immediately Iron Man pointed to the Helicarrier and declared on all frequencies, " _Everyone needs to evacuate the area- now! The whole Gentek building is gonna come down on us at any second!_ "

Cap blurted, "What!?", and looked out to the Gentek building, seeing what Tony meant as the Hydras curled around the support beams underneath and destroyed those facing the team. The whole facility began leaning closer and closer to their direction and threatened to give way at any moment. Cap took Tony's advice and ordered everyone to get to the Helicarrier before they were all crushed.

Flyers carried those unable to and carried them away to SHIELD's mobile base as it slowly but steadily moved away from the teetering tower, though at the pace the Helicarrier went compared to the swaying state of the Gentek building, Iron Man took a not-so-wild guess it would fall long before everyone got out of range. As such, he called select members of the Avengers to tell them, "We need to hold that building up before it can fall, Cap. I'll take Thor and Ms. Marvel to keep it in place for as long as we can."

As Cap hitched a ride on a Mandroid soldier to safety, he acknowledged Iron Man's solution with, "Copy that, Tony. I'll watch from the Helicarrier and let you know when you three can stop pushing against the building."

Iron Man and the others flew off and faced the Gentek facility head on, hovering at about the middle section to keep it stationary. With Thor being the strongest, he took the highest level to hold back with Ms. Marvel beneath him and Iron Man below her. The trio used all their might to ensure their friends made their departure unimpeded, and just as the Helicarrier got out of range, Cap informed them, "We're good on this side- let the building fall before you get crushed. Let's hope Gentek has good insurance, otherwise we'll never hear the end of this."

The trio gave the building a good collective shove before flying out of the way; the building fell momentarily, crashing into several other buildings and taking them out in the process. Everyone looked on as the shockwave of rubble and kicked-up dust served to demolish even more structures in the vicinity, ultimately culminating in a wasteland of concrete, rebar and glass. With so much carnage and collateral damage resulting from the battle, Hawkeye quite simply could not stop himself from asking Tony in a deadpan voice, "So… are you gonna have to pay for all that?"

 _Later, back at the outpost…_

Wasp nervously waited for the return of her teammates, and once they walked through the tent flap to enter, she knew things did not go well for them. She received partial relief once she noticed everyone came back alive and more of less unharmed, even if the same could not be said for almost everyone's feelings about how poorly it went for them. Wasp began, "So, uh, how did it… go?"

Iron Man simply took a deep breath, sighed, and curtly replied, "I don't wanna talk about it."

"We're all in one piece", Cap commented. "But this is our fourth failure in a row by my count, and this time was no different; Alex escaped, Elizabeth Greene and some of those creatures she made are on the loose, and the Gentek building was decimated in the end. There's gotta be a better way to tackle this situation."

Wasp continued, "And about the actual fighting done?"

Hawkeye began, "Oh it was a _bloodbath_! I totally get why you wanted to stay behind- there was blood and guts and carnage everywhere! A few times I thought I might've been sick to my stomach. I doubt I'll look at ground meat the same way again…"

At that moment one of the soldiers walked and asked the people inside, "Hey, we were thinking about hosting a barbeque in a few days to raise morale- anyone feel like helping out with that?"

Hawkeye turned and replied, "Free burgers and hotdogs? Where do I start?"

He walked back out with a brief wave goodbye and walked out with the soldier, leaving Iron Man, Cap and Cross to brief their allies on the current situation. They stood with Ms. Parker, Randall, McMullen and Nick Fury around a table with a digital map of the city in the middle of them, and Ms. Parker pointed out the greatest losses Gentek has suffered as of that day.

"The destruction of Gentek HQ is an immeasurable blow to our corporation", Ms. Parker lamented. "While losing the physical building is inopportune enough, given our lack of major facilities elsewhere, I'm more concerned about the incomplete viral strains which we kept in cold storage. That unit has likely been compromised and the strains will inevitably interact with each other. Whatever comes of that unintended union will be devastating enough that the entire surrounding area has been quarantined; absolutely no one is allowed in… not even Blackwatch personnel."

McMullen offered, "I believe Gentek will survive this unfortunate event- although our main headquarters was indeed our largest research facility, the others we have in other cities will be more than enough to keep the company afloat."

"That being said, however,'' he continued, "the escape of the Redlight subject is a serious matter which requires even greater diligence than everyone has put in so far. If the subject escapes the island-"

Iron Man interrupted him, "End of the world scenario, we _know_. But the bigger question is- why in the world did you have someone so dangerous locked up in your building in the first place!?"

Nick Fury backed up Tony's irritation, insisting, "The more secrets you keep from the US government and SHIELD, the less pretty this situation ends for Blackwatch and Gentek. If you don't give us the information we need to know, SHIELD _will_ obtain it by other means."

Ms. Parker began to speak but McMullen stopped her before she could come up with an adequate argument to defend the company. He then faced Iron Man and Nick directly, stating, "I'll admit Gentek has made mistakes in the past- trusting Alex Mercer, for one thing. But I assure you we had- and still have- the best of intentions when the Redlight subject was given to us."

"She has a name, sir", Cap asserted. "Just calling her a subject is dehumanizing her."

McMullen raised an eyebrow. "To be blunt, Mr. Rogers, the _Redlight subject_ is no longer human. She's like Mercer, aside from the obvious differences between their two viral strains; where he alters his Biomass to become ever stronger, she uses her strain to alter the Biomass of others, transforming them into monsters which serve a variety of purposes, and all of which are under her total mental control."

"And where did Greene come from?", Nick questioned. Randall answered his question, recalling, "Blackwatch discovered her in Hope, Idaho- 1968. We got called in to investigate an unidentified disturbance in the area. Once we arrived, we discovered Hell on Earth; people mutated into freaks, rampaging and murdering anything else not like them. And Greene was controlling them all. Blackwatch stopped her in time before she made it any worse, but at a severe cost- the entire town and its population were both annihilated in the aftermath."

Randall continued, "I can attest to Greene's savagery; she bit a good chunk out of my own arm. Had to amputate it with a meat-cleaver before the infection spread. No painkillers, no nothing. I would've used that same cleaver to chop her head goddamn head off if I thought it would end her then and there, but there was no telling what that virus inside her could do. Best thing to do was quarantine her and keep her out of the public's eye."

Ms. Parker stepped in to add, "Blackwatch did not have adequate technology to study the Redlight virus without risking another outbreak, so they kept her in isolation until they found a group capable of studying Greene without risk of another outbreak."

With her tone turning annoyed, Ms Parker finished, "We were doing fine with our research… until Alex ruined everything."

"Elizabeth never tried escaping on her own?", Cap wondered. McMullen stated, "The Redlight virus was unstable enough that, given enough time, her body would shut down in a catatonic state. She never aged, but she never showed consciousness until Alex made contact with her. I theorize his Blacklight strain, coupled with release from her cell is what reawakened her."

"And she threw him out the window for doing it because…?", Iron Man added. McMullen simply shrugged his shoulders. "The Redlight subject was unstable from the start. God only knows her mental state after waking up again."

Iron Man asked, "Do you have any suggestions what are next move should be? Everything else we've tried has just blown up in our faces."

McMullen thought about a solution and proposed, "If you were to gain enough samples of Redlight, we can develop a vaccine to it the same we did for the Blacklight virus. It would be another effective tool for the creatures the Redlight subject produces. Doing that can wait, however; the more important thing is everyone resting to prepare for the endeavor. In the meantime… relax. Find something to take your mind off of the missions. I'm certain our luck is bound to turn around."

 _Meanwhile…_

 _I think my luck is starting to turn around_ , Alex thought to himself. He stood on the rooftop of a building, just on the outskirts of Dana's base, where he briefly practiced with his new power. Repeatedly changing his arms from Claws to normal limbs about every second, Alex performed a few basic attacks and jabs with them, learning how he can integrate his new talons into his combat style.

Blacklight questioned, **What do you mean?**

Alex replied, _Well, I don't feel all that bloodthirsty or melancholy anymore, so I think my mood swings have worn off. And it might mean it won't happen again in the future. I mean I've got these things now- who knows what else I'll unlock? I may have enough of an edge to go up against a metahuman when the time comes._

 **Just try to not get thrown halfway across the city when** _ **that**_ **time comes** , Blacklight stated. Alex rolled his eyes and sarcastically agreed, then leapt from the rooftop and onto the side of Dana's base. Immediately from that moment he bolted upwards against the building- casually giving the finger to physics once again- and stopping once he reached an open window.

Hopping inside without much hassle, Alex walked a few feet before he saw Dana come into a view with a book in her hands. Giving her a short wave with his hand, Alex greeted her with a simple, "Hey."

Dana looked up from her book and her eyes widened like when someone spies a spider uncomfortably close to them, and not a moment later passed when she dropped her book in shock. Alex became confused by this until he noticed something dark and sharp out of the corner of his eye- several sharp things, in fact. He still had his new Claws out and since Dana had never seen Alex display a power like this before…

"Oh, um, yeah...", Alex blurted, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation. "I got _these_. Neat, huh?"

Dana shook off the fright she had and picked her book back up, stating, "Uh… yeah. How'd you get them? Did it have something to do with that battle near the Gentek Building? I heard it was complete carnage."

Alex admitted, "It… didn't go too well."

"I heard you got tossed halfway across downtown… _twice_."

Alex grumbled, "Argh, is everyone gonna bring that up? Yes, I got my ass handed to me. Last time I try to help someone Gentek locked up. Anyway, that Elizabeth Greene woman made a monster army and fought the Avengers, Blackwatch _and_ SHIELD, so that was a war-zone I didn't wanna get caught in."

He continued, "I tried to bail outta there, but Elizabeth sent a few friends to hunt me down. I lead the freaks to a Blackwatch facility, chaos ensued, and everything died. Except me, of course."

"OK…", Dana began, "but that still doesn't explain where your fancy fingers came from."

Alex added, "Against my better judgment, I decided to Consume one of the big freaks when it was weakened enough by gunfire. It didn't feel normal going down like Consuming a Blackwatch soldier, and not long after that my arms burst out into _these_ things. Chopping up everyone else was almost too easy after that."

"That's… cool", Dana stated. "Morbid, but cool."

She moved on to another topic, explaining, "Anyway, while you were busy with all that insanity, I dug up more information on Graylight on Blackwatch's private network. Of course they call it 'Blacknet' because everyone's so original these days, but I can jab at their creativity skills later. Right now I need to show you what I found."

Dana lead Alex to the conspiracy room and pulled up the files she printed out from Blacknet, handing a few sheets to Alex while she held some herself. Reading the contents on the first page, she paraphrased, " _The Graylight virus is a smaller project associated with the main project of perfecting the Blacklight virus. While the earliest tests did not enhance the mind or body of a given host, later tests improved cognitive functionality and hand-eye coordination within acceptable parameters. And although their personalities are understandably warped to a twisted degree, it does not hamper their superior combat skills, enabling every new cadaver to become an effective soldier within mere weeks or days of training._ "

Alex questioned, "Are you saying this is Graylight stuff is some kind of super soldier serum knock-off? I thought Blacklight was supposed to be that."

 **Who are you calling a knock-off!?** , Blacklight demanded, irritated by Alex's poor choice of words. Alex apologized in his head before verbally asking Dana, "So what you're saying is- this gunk turns dead people into soldiers?"

"As far as the records state… pretty much", Dana confirmed. "Blackwatch takes any recently deceased corpses, any that are mostly intact, and introduces Graylight into their body, mending whatever wounds they have and bringing them almost back to life."

"And that part about 'personality warping'',' Alex continued, "it almost sounds like all those disturbed comments the Blackwatch soldiers sometimes make. Which would mean…"

"That Graylight is used to transform every corpse Blackwatch acquires into highly capable, cost-effective soldiers whom are completely under the organization's control", Dana finished for Alex. "Considering they've been around from the 60's at least, this has to mean their army is much, much larger than we originally thought it was."

Alex surmised, "It also means all those people I killed… aren't really people. At least not anymore. Huh."  
Blacklight pointed out, **Well there you go- you're not actually a murderer like you lamented a while ago. All those soldiers are just semi-undead fodder Gentek and Blackwatch use for their bidding. Happy now?**

 _Honestly…_ , Alex replied, _not really. Just because their status as "people" has changed doesn't mean my intent to end them is any more justified. But I suppose that honestly doesn't matter anymore- I'll do whatever it takes to Dana and myself out of this mess in one piece._

Blacklight agreed. **Her computer skills will remain useful after all is done.**

 _Not what I meant_ , Alex asserted. _I said it because, y'know, she's my only family?_

"At least we know why those soldiers are so demented", Dana commented. "I can only imagine what kind of sick, twisted thoughts must be running through their heads all the time…"

 _A few days later…_

 _How much ketchup can I put on my burger before it ends up splattering all over the place once I take a bit, like someone's head getting blown to bits with a shotgun?_ , one Blackwatch soldier thought to himself as he took a patty from a pile of them with a pair of tongs next to them. Moving along a line of soldiers and other personnel taking portions of the available food, they sat down at the tables nearby to enjoy their meals and the friendly atmosphere the BBQ provided.

Hawkeye in particular added an element of hilarity to the situation by stacking several patties together between two buns and seeing if he could fit the whole thing in his mouth, much to soldier's amusement. The other Avengers and agents of SHIELD used the opportunity to have small discussions or simply relax after the events of the last few days. Only a small few from each organization refrained from partaking in the event at all for a number of reasons, most of which involved distrust with Blackwatch and Gentek.

Iron Man, Captain America and Nick Fury stood somewhat near the BBQ area but refrained from having any food; a conversation about recent events appeared more prudent. Tony began with, "So… anyone else uncertain of who to trust, or is it just me?"

"Believe me, Stark, this is a grey mess if I've ever seen one", Fury replied. "On the one hand, we have corporate snakes and overzealous paramilitary personnel; on the other hand, we also have a mass-murdering scientist-turned-monster who's more powerful with every kill and less qualms about committing the next one. I don't think there's a single innocent among these people… aside from SHIELD and your team, however."

Tony turned to Cap and asked, "Did you ever deal with messy politics like this back in the day?"

Cap thought about it, but then sighed and admitted, "Normally this is the part where I say 'back in my day' and try to be inspiring, but the truth is I never played an active part in the politics. I just punched Nazis and followed orders. From what I read about events afterwards, most of the greyness came _after_ the war. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, Tony."

"Then I think we should move on to another topic", Tony continued. "One that I'm sure you'll have an opinion on and experience with- judging a certain someone's actions and their character. Of course I'm talking about Alex Mercer."

Fury interjected, "What's there to talk about? Yeah, there's a possibility he was set up by Gentek and was innocent… but that was before he took his first life, then the second, and then into the _dozens_. Blackwatch may have ruthless soldiers, but at least they don't eat people alive."

Cap pointed out, "That may be true, but he wouldn't have gone to those lengths had Blackwatch not tried incinerating him with a rocket launcher and a gas station- _after_ Alex surrendered, I might add. Couple that with his first kill being accidental, and maybe if events went differently, he could have been proven innocent."

" _'Could_ have...'", Fury insisted. "But now? He's gone too far. I don't see how he could make a compelling case for himself even if Blackwatch was as monstrous as Hydra and AIM put together."

Cap crossed his arms. "Even so, if he was tried and found guilty, given the death penalty… I don't know if death applies to him anymore."  
Tony listed off the events Alex has survived so far- "He survived incineration by exploding gas station; has grown deadly enough to slaughter platoons of Blackwatch soldiers; and has outsmarted our teams more than once, which I'm particularly tired of. Barring an act of Thor, do we have anything that could stop him?"

Neither of the others had an answer for that sobering question, so they moved on to another hot-button individual who had several questions regarding their relation to the two suspicious organizations- Elizabeth Greene. Cap began with, "We know for certain she was kept in the Gentek building despite being so dangerously powerful, so Gentek has a lot to answer for there, but there's still a lot more that needs to be accounted for."

"Like that restrictive containment suit", Tony stated. "And the numerous scars."

He turned to Fury and wondered, "I don't suppose you can fight Gentek in court for human trafficking and illegal experimentation?"

"It's technically an abduction charge, but definitely the illegal experimentation", Fury answered. "And given Blackwatch's involvement in handing off Greene to them in the first place, they can be tried as accomplices as well. Once this whole event is over, I mean. And we figure out where the leaders for both organizations have left for..."

 _Meanwhile, somewhere else…_

The high-ranking employees Fury alluded to made themselves busy by entering an abandoned warehouse, much to the chagrin of Karen Parker. She complained, "So, why couldn't we have stayed at the BBQ and had our meeting there? I prefer to eat as I work; it's more efficient that way."

McMullen pointed out, "And have our meeting secretly listened in on by one of the Avengers or a SHIELD agent? That's fine for cartoons and dramas, but we're not some cliche group of villains- we won't be that stupid."

"Just make sure not to complain within earshot of the boss", Randall asserted. "If they catch wind of you mouthing off, you won't _have_ a mouth anymore."

The trio entered the boarded-up building and walked to the center, discovering a single computer set upon a crate for them to interact with. Randall went over to set up the program to speak with their boss, though Karen commented, "Do you know how to actually work that thing? I've seen people who can't even up the resolution for a video on their phones."

Randall asserted, "I'm old- not stupid. Now be quiet before _the boss_ hears you..."

Everyone took their places and waited for their employer to speak, whereupon a disguised voice stated, " _ **Hello all… I have a question for everyone. So, I've read the reports, seen the footage on TV, and taken eye-witness accounts from some of the personnel. So now I'd like to hear it straight from you all- how did you three screw up this badly?**_ "

Randall asserted, "I only arrived after the initial outbreak; if I were already there, I would have had the soldiers detain the traitor peacefully and minimize any potential risk of an outbreak."

" _ **Very well**_ ", the mysterious speaker stated. " _ **McMullen, what about you?**_ "

"I was nowhere near New York at the time of the Blacklight outbreak", McMullen insisted. "I only had time to come here after I handled business elsewhere."

The speaker again replied, " _ **Understandable. Now, what do**_ **you** _ **have to say for yourself regarding this incident, Ms. Parker?**_ "

Karen explained, "After Alex absconded with the virus sample, I ordered the Blackwatch soldiers to stop him at any cost. It's not my fault Alex was a spiteful prick who shattered the vial once he was cornered."

The speaker remained silent for several moments before spontaneously bursting into mild laughter, confusing the trio while the inexplicable amusement went on for just a few seconds more. Eventually the speaker stopped laughing just as immediately as they began, declaring, " _ **Ms. Parker, please don't expect me to believe that bold-faced lie you fed SHIELD and the Avengers. I know of Alex's mental state and am entirely aware his intent was to quietly smuggle the vial away from the city and to a safe location where it could be processed by government officials, and Gentek would be sued and shut down afterwards.**_ "

Karen remained silent as the speaker continued in a disturbingly cheery tone, " _ **So… don't ever try feeding me a lie again, or I'll feed you to the infected masses prowling around the Red Zones, and I'll laugh as they tear your body to pieces and feed on the remains. Ooh, or better yet-**_ **you'll** _ **be the next experiment! Now wouldn't that be**_ **amusing** _ **?"**_

Karen stuttered, but the speaker cut her off to continue, " _ **Now because of your blunder, there's an outbreak of a deadly virus which has forced Blackwatch to go public. Then there's Alex Mercer- an entirely unique and dangerous variable; his action of releasing Elizabeth Greene will most likely tank Gentek into the ground. All these things I cannot abide by, Ms. Parker. But I'm willing to be lenient on you if you can offer me an answer that isn't**_ **garbage** _ **: why in the world should I not kill you where you stand? I have the capacity to end your life in a thousand different ways... in case you had forgotten. So- what's your answer?**_ "

Karen stammered to the point where she could not convey a complete sentence, forcing her to resort to the only option left at her disposal- sprinting out of the building at full speed and hoping she had even the slimmest chances of surviving whatever would come next. Her hopes were dashed away and her fears immediately compounded as the door leading out of the building slammed shut; a Blackwatch officer stood there in front of it, holding his gun up and pointing it right at Karen. She could only back away slowly as all other exits were blocked by more soldiers, leaving her with no options left.

" _ **That…**_ ", the speaker began, " _ **was a very poor answer.**_ "

Mere seconds after the speaker uttered those words, Karen began to lose her balance and fell to the ground, writhing in pain as something overtook her body and slowly killed her from within. Both Randall and McMullen watched this occur, but only the latter had anything to ask about it. He turned to the computer to ask, "Neither I nor Karen have ever met you before, but I may I learn how exactly you're… doing that? I really hope I don't have a kill-switch somewhere in me that I'm not aware of."

" _ **The only kill-switch here…**_ ", the speaker stated, " _ **is when I decide someone dies. Karen here is having her blood change to poison. Don't bother asking how I did that- I don't reveal my secrets.**_ "

Randall pointed out, "Such as your actual identity, or even your real voice? I've been on this job for decades and have never even seen your face before, let alone learn any personal information."

" _ **That's just how I do business**_ ", the speaker asserted. " _ **So as I said before- stop. Asking. Questions.**_ "

McMullen looked back down at Karen, body twitching and foaming at the mouth, to which the former simply sighed and continued, "Could we at least have someone get this cleaned up? Just watching her deteriorate like this is making me feel unwell."

"Don't worry", Randall assured him, "she may be gone now, but Karen will be working with us again post-mortem."

With Karen dead and gone, the speaker moved on to the next purpose of their meeting. They asked Randall, " _ **I was under the impression the Blacklight virus was still incomplete, yet its creator successfully bonded to it and survived mentally and physically. In fact the bond is**_ **too** _ **strong for my liking. What can you tell me about it?**_ "

Randall admitted, "As impossible as it sounds, there was a million-in-one chance the virus would bond to someone at the cellular level even at its incomplete stage. It's our misfortune for that to be successful with Mercer. Not even the so-called 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' were enough to contain him, and the unpredictable effects of the Blacklight virus have made him resistant nearly everything except the most specific countermeasures."

He held his breath, waiting for the poison to mysteriously enter his system and make him die, but to his surprise, his employer did not blame him for the issue. They instead stated, " _ **There was nothing you could've done to prevent that- I place blame entirely on Karen**_."

She turned her attention to McMullen and instructed him, " _ **I want you to develop a vaccine capable of eliminating or at least weakening Alex Mercer enough so he can be contained. He's not the kind of enemy I can deal with having around for a while.**_ "

A moment later they asked, " _ **Is Ms. Parker dead yet?**_ "

McMullen had one of the soldiers poke her body with the butt of his rifle, thus confirming her transition as a cadaver. With that, the speaker apologized with, " _ **It's not often I use my power so directly, but it's equally as infrequent that someone in my employ screws up so badly. Let it serve as a warning that failure on such a grand scale will not be tolerated, understand?**_ "

After that, the speaker moved on to their last order of business. " _ **Given these recent and unfortunate developments, we need a way to keep SHIELD and the Avengers busy so the situation here may be dealt with summarily. I sincerely hoped I would not need to rush his plans like this, but I've been left with no choice. I believe it's time I gave**_ **Kessler** _ **a call…**_ "

( **Author's Note: I am just blown away by all the support I am getting for this story, seriously you guys are the reason this story is still going. Anyway Before we continue there is some stuff I need to mention.** )

 **I will be limiting my responses to reviews from now on to those that can provide some criticism or questions that I can answer so I can save time on these author's notes. (To those that just say things "I love your story keep it up." I read all your reviews and I love them, just because I don't respond to them now doesn't mean I don't love the support.**

 **Due to several delays with my personal life and with Blitz this will be the only chapter this month, sorry guys that I am not making a consistent schedule, but planning and getting a story made isn't going to be easy as I am also dealing with a job an collage and trying to keep good schedule with Blitz. But Don't think I won't give up. We will make sure to get this right.**

 **Before anyone says anything on the introduction of greylight, this is not a cop out to justify Alex's actions, it has a purpose to the story besides the obvious that I will talk about the other reasons for it once we get past the important stuff in later chapters so not to give spoilers. HOWEVER, the one thing I will reveal now as to why I decided to make greylight in the first place is because in the original game it made absolutely no damn sense as to how in the hell blacklight got so many psychopaths under their employment OR how they managed to drill such loyalty into them that they would die for blackwatch or as to why every blackwatch soldier was so unsubtly over the top evil to a near comical extent. I hope this provides a good enough explanation to a plot hole I thought was overlooked in the original series.**

 **It was never revealed who was running blackwatch from the very top, other then possibly the American government, but I decided to make a "boss" for blackwatch and Gentek. Even if you don't know anything thing about the boss at this point I hope you like the character made from just the hints given.**

 **For those that didn't catch on the name drop, Kesslar is a name from Infamous… Yes infamous is here too. To be clear this is still alex's story, infamous will mostly just play in the background but there is reason infamous is apart of this story and there will be some crossover later.**

( **Author's note: Ok with that out of the way, onto the reviews.)**

 _(Leader: No, I wasn't asking you to put my oc but do addmit it would be funny though but still I dont' see stark being like how"How can we tell which one is Mercer but we can't tell weather its that guy(my oc) or its Mercer" but anyway also is this the avenger earths mightest hero's universe or avengers assemble universe, if its the first choice than why is it not the second choice.)_

 **(Response: The Avengers Earth's Mightiest Heroes yes the good one.)**

 _(Primordial Inscriptor Z-09: I actually forgot that Alex didn't have his claws yet, the massacre that played out here does align with the gameplay I experienced as well as a reasonable outcome to have. Still ran away the first time I encountered the Hunter without my claws, that was without a doubt, the most adrenaline-packed battle in the early game._

 _With such a massacre taking place as a result of Alex assimilating of the Hunter for the first time, its not unreasonable for him to feel such regret, but Blackwatch is simply monsters in human skin, metaphorically of course. Alex still sees them as human, his views and morals are still intact despite the monstrous body he controls._

 _BP perspective was a nice touch to emphasize that scene though, it gave a much needed external perspective that his actions can be viewed from, and the interpretations that come from it._

 _I've noticed that you've been advancing the evolution of the infected... any chance that Alex gets to have the powers and enemies from P2? That game's story might not have been good, but it had a great weapon and enemy mechanics to play with, I will admit._

 _Thanks for the chapter!)_

 **(Response: I really appreciate the support and critical analysis you are giving with every chapter. This is really helping improve the writing going forward and I really love that you are catching onto all the details we are putting into the chapters. I hope my explanation in the author's note for greylight makes sense and doesn't take away from the story since the story. Also tell me, what are your thoughts on the boss and the inclusion of Infamous?)**

 _(edboy4926: Awesome chapter._

 _Sad that my theory is not true._

 _Though you did not answer my Pariah question. Oh well, will wait to read it in the story._

 _Also, the source of the viruses, I know you said that it's spoilers, but could you at least tell us if the source comes from a canon Marvel source or is it something original from you?)_

 **(Response: To answer your question without giving anything away… both. Sorry but I can't give much. You will just have to wait and see.)**

 _(KuriMaster13: Came here because Blitz asked me to check it out to see how his writing is... have to say, this looks really good. I don't even know about Prototype, but thankfully it doesn't look like I have to due to the AU-ish nature of making it fit into A:EMH)_

 **(Response: Glad to meet a friend of Blitz, hope you enjoy the story as this story still gives all the things that makes prototype great and them some. Hope you stick around for the whole ride.)**

 **(Author's Note: Thanks for all the support you guys this really means the world to me. See you all next month.)**


	8. Chapter 7: Another Spark

In Empire City, not far from the coast of New York, a humble courier took a quick ride around the city to complete his last package run of the day. Despite the unusually vague instructions given to him as part of the run- "get to the center of the city"- he did not really pay it much mind as his thoughts were focused on more important things at the moment. The courier expected a call from his friend at any moment and waited for his phone to vibrate in his pocket while he moved through the city by bike.

As he slowed down when traffic picked up, his phone finally buzzed and he took it out to answer- "Hey, Zeke. What do you need?"

"Cole, almost done with that delivery of yours?", Zeke asked. Even though he could not see his friend on the other end of the line, Cole already pictured his friend in his head, who suspiciously dressed like an Elvis-impersonator for unexplained reasons. Having long grown accustomed to both his friend's antics, Cole simply waited for Zeke to say what he meant to say.

"I already got the beer chilling in the fridge and the pizza order on my laptop, so we'll be all set for the game once you're back", Zeke explained. "I don't think Trish will come though- said something about too many people at the hospital to help. That and her sister said another thing about them going out after Trish's shift is over, so it'll just be us. Whatever; more pizza for us."

Cole nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon- just gotta drop off… drop off… whatever it is I'm dropping off. Anyway, talk to you later."

Putting away his phone, Cole continued his way to the center of the city, though he could not help but stop and watch the news once he almost went past a set of TVs in a window. The special on the TVs focused on a talk show host interviewing a prominent yet also rather controversial owner/operator of a tabloid newspaper company situated in New York. Cole simply commented aloud, "I wonder what Jameson has to say now…"

Resuming from an earlier point in the interview, Jameson repeated himself, "And with this horrific outbreak ravaging New York, what does our 'Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman' do? Up and vanishes is what he does! I told everyone he's a menace, and now I can confidently say he's a coward too! I may not have superpowers, but at least _I've_ got the courage to stay with New York's remaining citizens while the Avengers and SHIELD blunder their way through this debacle."

Jameson reiterated, "Look, I understand containing a virus made by a terrorist is not the same as fighting a superpowered lunatic, but here's the kicker- the terrorist _is_ a superpowered lunatic! How's he harder to fight than that space god from last year?"

He then included, "And don't get me started on these idiots specifically brought in to combat Alex Mercer and his deadly 'Blacklight' virus- Blackwatch and Gentek. How in the world can these groups possibly be trusted? Mercer concocted his bioweapon right under Gentek's nose, and Blackwatch completely failed to stop him before he released the thing right in the heart of the city. And while I don't believe in rumors, I wouldn't be surprised if it was _also_ their fault that the virus broke containment _in the first place_!"

With a heavy sigh, Jameson lamented, "So let's compare sides- we've got four organizations working together with technology ranging from conventional to incredibly high-tech… versus a single, solitary scientist with fancy powers. And somehow... he's winning. Am I missing something here, ladies and gentlemen?"

"You mean besides the fact that this world's gone to Hell?", Cole commented to himself. He moved on from the TV sets and back to his route, thinking aloud, "I'm just glad _I_ don't have to deal with all that crazy crap."

Pedaling back to the street, only to encounter an overflow of people and far too much car traffic to weave through them, he continued, "Yeah, I've already got enough on my plate. I'm actually kinda happy I live in such a lousy part of the city- no one has a good reason to attack this place."

As he crawled through the traffic and sea of pedestrians, Cole thought to himself, _Honestly I'm just surprised the city has lasted this long- disasters are always around the corner, ready to threaten New York or America or the whole planet. One of these days, something so bad is gonna happen that not even the Avengers or SHIELD can stop it… aside from this whole outbreak thing, apparently._

After passing through the wave of people and reaching as near to the center of town as he possibly could, Cole stopped his bicycle and looked around. Other than the vaguely-worded instructions he got with the job, he barely had any information to go on. He almost thought about calling his boss in case he missed something, but as if it were planned in advance, his phone began to ring once his hand got close enough to it.

The odd coincidence spooked him just slightly, but he shrugged it off and took the call. He asked the anonymous caller, "Hello? Who's this?"

"Hello… Mr. MacGrath", a deep, raspy voice on the other end of the line replied. "I'm glad you arrived at the destination without incident; the package you have with you is rather… delicate."

Cole looked at the small cardboard box with him and shrugged once again. "If you say so. Hasn't given me much trouble, to be honest. Now, where am I supposed to take it, exactly?"

"There's an unmarked building on your right. You just need to go there and I'll consider the job finished. There's a camera at the top which should distinguish it from any others."

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Unmarked building? That doesn't sound good."

The voice assured him, "It's nothing to be worried about. Please come to the front steps."

Cole cautiously pedaled his bicycle over to the building in question and stood before the steps leading inside. He could not put his finger on it, but he just could not shake off the feeling that something bad would happen. Forcing himself to stay calm and composed, Cole spoke to the caller again to state, "Alright, I'm at the building. Do you want me to come in, or should I leave the package by the door? I'd prefer the latter, if that's alright with you."

"Actually, I had a different suggestion in mind", the voice explained. "I just need you to do one last thing- _open_ the package."

Cole blinked. "You're… serious? Why would I need to do that?"

"I assure you", the voice insisted. "It's of the utmost importance you do."

"This is really making me uncomfortable now", Cole admitted. "This whole thing doesn't feel right."

The voice promised, "I'll double your usual fee… or more, if you really need encouragement."

Cole hesitated. "I… uh, ah screw it. Alright."

Throwing caution to the wind in favor of more cash, Cole unfolded the box and pulled out the object inside. His confusion compounded even further as he put the box down and held the silverish ball in both hands, unable to put together the man's motive for having Cole personally hold the item. After a moment, he picked his phone back up to ask the man, "So… what now?"

The voice remained silent for a second before softly, but darkly chuckling to himself. "For better or worse, now… it _begins_."

Cole looked back to the sphere and watched as the holes around its rim and top began to glow and crackle with energy, growing in intensity to the point where its holder and beholder dropped his phone and backed away, trying to get away from it. Much to his dismay, the sphere would not leave his hands- it stuck to them like glue… like hot, painful glue. Cole's breathing grew short and rapid as he began to panic, and soon the people around him panicked as well.

Ever more did the sphere radiate energy that swirled around him, engulfing him in its blinding light. He could not see what it did to the people nearby, but by the sounds of their screams, Cole thought it best he did not know. Eventually the sphere appeared to reach its zenith of power- and exploded in a flash of light.

As Cole's vision faded to black, the last words his mind formed were, _Aw… dammit._

 _A few minutes earlier…_

Alex and Dana sat around in their hideout and worked on something absolutely vital to their mission- an intense game of Monopoly. As Alex stared at the game board with as much intensity and focus as he could muster, Blacklight asked him, **And… what is the point of this game?**

 _To win_ , Alex replied, much to Blacklight's irritation. If Blacklight had eyes, it would have rolled them at his counterpart's answer. **I meant more specifically- what is its ultimate purpose?**

 _To have fun_ , Alex stated. _And I can't have fun if you keep asking me all these inane questions. So just be quiet and let me play in peace. Or go do something else… if, uh, there_ is _anything else you can do._

Blacklight informed him, **If you insist on wasting your time, then I'll be in the Web in the meantime.**

Alex blinked and wondered, _Wait, what? Web? Are you saying I have an Internet connection in my head?_

 **The Web of Intrigue, as I call it, is the sum total of all the minds we've Consumed and compressed into our Biomass** , Blacklight explained. **In a sense it** _ **is**_ **like the Internet, but limited to the memories and information contained within the minds of those we've absorbed. If you could finish your 'game' early, I could give you a visual representation of the Web.**

Alex considered the proposition. _Are any of the people we've eaten good at Monopoly?_

Blacklight simply groaned in response, causing Alex to snicker in response. Dana looked up and asked, "What's so funny?"

"It's just fun messing with another voice in my head", Alex stated. Dana gave him a look before going back to the game, though soon Alex asked her, "Hey, did you make any headway with getting the dirt on Blackwatch?"

Dana explained, "The long and short answer to that is… no. They've blocked all Internet and cellular communication, aside from whatever SHIELD and the Avengers use. I've managed to hack into some of Blackwatch's networks, but posting anything that the public would see is pretty much impossible."

"And the only thing still airing on TV is good 'ol JJJ", Alex noted. "... that old fuck. There's some news coverage too, but it's all the same depressing crap, so who gives a-"

Before Alex could finish his sentence, a sudden shockwave shook the whole building and knocked over some things in their base. After it stopped, both Alex and Dana stood up to find out what happened. Dana went to the TV to check the news as Alex peered outside to look in the direction from where the shockwave originated from, wondering if they were under attack by Blackwatch or Greene.

Turning up the volume on the TV, Dana watched in horror as new helicopters on the scene surveyed the chaos; some kind of explosion decimated one of the uninfected zones and turned the surrounding area into nothing but rubble. Alex turned to watch the footage as well- something in the epicenter of the explosion moved around and caught his attention. Peering in closer, his vision sharpened to the point where he could make out the finer details of the scene, but not perfectly.

Still, Alex did figure out what his eyes narrowed in on; he saw a person among the wreckage and rubble. And it did not take the combined knowledge of several people to figure out that the mystery person had something to do with the explosion just then… especially if the person _survived_ the explosion, at point blank range no less. Alex looked at his sister and commented, "Was that Empire City? This is just me, but I think another shitstorm's about to go down. If that's the case, then you'd better take notes, so grab a chair and get comfy."  
Dana questioned him, "If I'm here, does that mean you're going out?"

Alex nodded. "I'm gonna go in quiet and see what's happening. I'd say that things are about to get just a little more interesting…"

 _A half hour later..._

Bounding from rooftop to rooftop, Alex hurried along to the edge of the crater that used to be a bustling area, watching vast plumes of smoke rise into the air and increase in size until he reached his destination. He paused at the wreckage of one building to scan the area, contemplating how to move ahead without the Avengers or Blackwatch seeing him and immediately going on the hunt under the assumption that this incident just had to be _his_ doing. After peering far and wide, Alex saw an abandoned police station which could be of use to him; pretending to be a lone Blackwatch soldier again likely would not work this time around, but a police officer might just cut it.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Avengers and Blackwatch soldiers flew over to the explosion site and pondered what could have caused such chaos. With Iron Man flying overhead and a Quinjet behind him, he had his comm-link open to speak with Black Panther. He started their conversation with an exasperated, "Aw, what now? Hasn't there been enough chaos we have to clean up?"

Panther replied, "Apparently not."

"Do you think Alex has something to do with this?", Iron Man postulated. "I know he's going for the 'I've been framed' angle, but I'm honestly not so sure anymore."

Panther offered, "We will know when we see him. If we see him, that is. You could just be letting our unfortunate failings influence your thoughts."

Iron Man sighed. "Yeah, maybe you're right. Still- if I see Mercer, I've got half a mind to just deck him in the face for all the grief he's caused us, not to mention for all of New York."

The two teams landed just outside of the blast radius and exited their vehicles, cautiously descending the slopes to the center of the crater. Thor surveyed the area before remarking, "This is devastation the likes of which I've only seen in the worst of wars. What manner of power could cause such chaos?"

Iron Man and Black Panther scanned the surrounding perimeter and arrived at the same conclusion, despite the unusual circumstances. The former explained, "From what my armor's telling me, this whole area is almost completely devoid of organic life. Everyone who was inside the blast radius just… vanished somewhere. I haven't figured out where specifically, but I can only assume it's within the centralized area. If we head there, we can probably find out what it is."

Panther added, "This is certainly a form of energy we've never encountered before; it attracts organic matter while violently repelling everything inorganic. Thus explaining why the people are gone while much of the concrete and metals have all utterly vanished."

Thor crossed his arms. "So in other words… mortal technology is at play? Again?"

Iron Man nodded. "I hate to admit it, but that's probably a safe bet. At least it rules out Alex and his sister; as far as I'm aware, none of them are bomb makers."

Hawkeye stepped up to add, "That and it'd make him look pretty stupid if he was still trying to prove his innocence."

Hovering in the air to get a better view, Iron Man told his teammates, "I'm giving your ID cards the same energy signature the area's giving off so you can track it. Just follow the cards and it should lead us right to the source of the blast."

Thor pointed out, "Would it not be simpler to just _go_ to the center of the crater and look there? I don't see why the search must be complicated with 'tracking energy' and all this scientific nonsense."

Iron Man intended to reply, but before he could, Captain Cross walked right up to Thor and blatantly said to his face, "For someone who's been alive longer than the very nation we're in, one would think you would've figured out a very obvious fact by now."

Thor looked down at Cross before narrowing his eyes and questioning, "And what sort of fact would that be... mortal?"

"That humanity doesn't use magic", Cross stated. "If you want to fight magic, go back home. If you want to stay and help us clean up this mess, then at least do so while recognizing that _science_ is what humanity uses. Maybe if you learned to use it yourself, you wouldn't preach so much about it being 'evil'."

"I…", Thor began. "The monsters mortal science creates- they're unlike anything I've encountered in my life. And I have lived for a _very_ long time compared to mortals. After all- you're mortals. _I_ am not."

Cross simply retorted, "You say that like the creatures you've fought before wouldn't be unnaturally disturbing to us 'mortals'. Haven't you ever considered _our_ perspective on things? I mean it's not as if your world's magic hasn't been used to cause untold devastation to its people."

Thor attempted to form a rebuttal, but Cross just repeated himself. " _Hasn't_ it?"

Unable to defend his opinion, Thor sighed and admitted, "Very well, I see your point. I just wish to see more good come of mortal science… instead of all the chaos I normally see."

Cross merely ended their conversation with, "Then I suggest you broaden your horizons a little more."

He walked off with his fellow soldiers, leaving the Avengers to disperse as well, going in groups of two. Hawkeye and the Hulk went on their own, and once they went out of everyone's earshot, the former commented, "So… some soldier guy pretty much just told Thor to shut up- and it _worked_. Remind me to never make Cross angry at me- I don't need someone like that on my case. I already get enough of that from Stark and Fury."

Hulk nodded. "Tellin' off Blondie takes some stones, that's for sure."  
They continued to scout the area until something caught their attention- several strikes of lightning appeared to their far right. Yet when they turned to their left, they saw Thor slowly flying in the air, simply surveying the perimeter just as the others were. With that glaring discrepancy, Hawkeye immediately pulled out his ID card and contacted the others to tell them, "I've got good news and bad news. Good news- looks like our secret bomber is just to our right. Bad news- well, just look and you'll figure it out."  
Iron Man flew over and watched as the unknown individual ran across a broken metal bridge, struggling to dodge and avoid the unusual lightning as it surged around him. Scanning from afar, Iron Man informed everyone, "He's giving off electricity like crazy- not sure why just yet, but just to be safe, everyone who's not lightning-proof should stay back. Thor and I will handle this."  
He and Thor went over to the end of the bridge where the mystery man ran towards, arriving just a few meters before him. Iron Man put up a hand and told the person, "Sir, I'm gonna need you to relax and stand still- you're giving off dangerous amounts of electricity."

The man pleaded, "Please… please make it stop…"  
He groaned and fell to his knees, building up a great deal of energy and causing Iron Man to step cautiously back before telling J.A.R.V.I.S., "Turn on the EMP shielding- _right now, please_."

Screaming in agony, the electric man inadvertently unleashed a bolt of lightning that struck Iron Man directly; despite preparing his shielding, the blast still knocked him away and into the ruins of a building. Dazed, he remarked, "That… hurt. That hurt a lot."  
Thor immediately went straight for the electric man and spun his hammer around, using it as a crude conductor to contain the imminent blast. When he felt another surge of energy being built up, Thor remarked, "Your power is impressive, but your control is considerably less. To your fortune, _my_ control is far greater."

Much to the Thunder God's surprise, however, just a few of the electrical sparks broke through the spinning and struck his hammer directly, which somehow caused the exact opposite effect to occur. Mjolnir began unleashing chaotic levels of discharge that went right into the electric man, forcing him to build up vast amounts of energy all over again. Thor blurted, "What manner of…?", before he realized what would happen next.  
He only managed to say, " _Odin's beard_...", before the sheer force of the blast sent him flying away like it did with Iron Man. The aforementioned Armored Avenger pulled himself from the rubble just in time to watch his ally land into a different pile. He shook his head and called in the others to inform them, "Did I just imagine that, or did someone just take Thor out in one shot- with lightning?"

Looking around, Iron Man saw something else and reiterated, "OK, yeah, I've totally gone loopy."  
Captain America asked him, "What's happening now?"  
"You're not gonna believe me", Iron Man explained, "but I think I just saw an Elvis Presley impersonator running across the ruins. A... a really heavy set one, by the looks of him."  
Cap paused, then replied, "Elf who?"  
Iron Man shook his head. "Nevermind. Just send Miss Marvel over here. Maybe she'll have better luck with this walking battery than we did."  
Everyone who could see watched as the Elvis-esque man ran over towards the electric man, though no one could hear them speak when one got within range of the other. The first man called out, "Cole- don't worry! I'm almost there!"

Cole shouted back, "Zeke... what are you... doing? Stay... back, or you… might get… get fried like the others…"  
He put up a hand to ward off his friend, not realizing that the motion of doing so would cause a bolt of lightning to shoot forth. Zeke thought he would be fried then and there, but Miss Marvel landed right in front of him to take the hit, absorbing the energy as best as she could. Zeke stumbled back and exclaimed, " _Holy-_ ", before Miss Marvel finished containing the rest of the electricity and firing it into the sky and away from her allies.  
Glancing back to Zeke, and then doing a double take afterwards, Miss Marvel informed him, "Sir, you really should back away- as in _right now_. This guy here's not safe to be around."

"I am _not_ leaving my best friend!", Zeke asserted as he got back up, only to jump when Cole inadvertently unleashed another electrical bolt that barely missed the former. Stepping back, Zeke reluctantly relented. "Alright, alright, backing away. Just don't hurt Cole- he's not in control of himself."

"I can see that", Miss Marvel muttered to herself. Noticing Iron Man flying into her view, she glanced over to ask him, "Do we have a plan to contain, uh, Cole here?"

Iron Man took another scan of Cole and determined, "He's giving off less and less electrical output with every burst. If he could just expel the remainder in a more controlled way, he should become safe to transport afterwards."

Pointing to Miss Marvel, he instructed her, "Go to him and try to calm him down- his electrical outbursts are linked to his mental ones. Try siphoning off the rest of his energy if you can."

Miss Marvel flew in and stood before Cole, gently holding up her hands while telling him, "Sir, I get that you're under a lot of duress right now, but I need you to focus and take deep breaths."

Cole attempted to comply, and when Miss Marvel thought it would be the right moment to drain him, she placed her hands firmly on his shoulders and proceeded to take in the excess power. To her surprise though, the unique energy inside Cole began to reverse the draining process, causing her body to burn in pain. She struggled to pull her hands off of him until she finally did so, although her success generated a discharge of energy which sent her flying back.  
Landing some meters away, Miss Marvel gritted her teeth and groaned, " _Do we have… any better... ideas? Ow…_ "  
Iron Man shook his head in his hand while commenting, "Oh for the love of… I got nothing. T'Challa? Any bright ideas?"

Contemplating the previous attempts, Black Panther determined, "It's clear that whatever kind of energy is coursing through this Cole individual, it's far too dangerous for anyone else to contain themselves. It would be better for him to disperse the energy all at once, well out of harm's way if at all possible."

Iron Man shrugged. "Might as well. So who's gonna take Cole here for a ride?"

"I will", Thor responded. Having pulled himself from the rubble Cole launched him into before, he craned his neck and commented, "That jolt he gave me was unpleasant, but nothing I cannot shake off. I shall take him skyward. We'll be back soon."

Cole looked up and watched as Thor hoisted him into the air before they both flew upwards into the sky, reaching well past the tallest skyscrapers moments later. Thor told him, "You must unleash all of your power at once, otherwise we won't be capable of helping you. Can you do that?"  
Cole struggled to get out the words, "I… I don't know… dunno how to… to do it…"

Thor insisted, "Just do what Miss Marvel asked you before- breathe deeply and focus."  
Cole feebly nodded; taking slow, drawn out breaths, the air around him tingled with electricity and continued to intensify. When he thought he had reached his limit, the energy exploded in all directions like a fried transformer. The force of the blast knocked Thor several meters away from Cole, causing the latter to immediately plummet back to the ground, though Thor managed to shake off the dizziness and catch Cole before the pavement did.  
The duo descended safely to the ground while the Avengers and Blackwatch soldiers monitored them closely. Once they made sure Thor would be fine and Cole no longer a hazard to those around him, Zeke immediately called in an ambulance to take Cole away to the nearest hospital. The two teams split in half- one to follow the vehicle and question Cole once he awoke, as the shock of releasing so much energy caused him to pass out- while the remainder stayed at the blast site to help any civilians who needed medical attention of their own.  
Meanwhile, a solitary police officer stood far away from the action and scanned the area, watching everyone clean up. Having witnessed the entire encounter with Cole play out and conclude, the officer decided he had seen enough and quickly left the area before anyone spotted him. Once he got sufficiently far away, he changed back into his regular form and pulled out his phone.

"Dana, you there?", Alex asked his sister. She responded and immediately grilled her brother for information, to which he replied, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but the situation has officially gotten worse. That explosion we saw killed almost everyone in the area, and the guy I think caused it got superpowers out of the ordeal."

Dana commented, "So now there's another fugitive on the loose?"

"Not at the moment", Alex explained. "The Avengers stopped him from going out of control and now he's being shipped to the nearest hospital. He might get away from them, might not. Either way, the world is officially starting to fall apart- first New York, now Empire City. I don't want to imagine what'll come next."

Looking back at the crater, he finished, "I don't think there's anything more I can do here- I've seen all the damage. I suppose it's time I head back home."

Sneaking his way out of the city, Alex managed to get through the rest of Empire City, the bridge connecting it to New York, as well as a decent portion of New York itself before anything of concern occurred. Once again he took his usual route of leaping from one rooftop to the next with Dana's hidden hideout not far from his current location. But just as he intended to slink back into the streets below and take the garage entrance, a red-and-blue blur caught his attention.

The figure landed on a rooftop opposite from him, though close enough to where both he and Alex could speak and hear each other. With an irate bellow of, "MERCER!", the figure stood his ground, ready for a fight. Alex turned back, rolled his eyes and just muttered, "Goddamnit. Am I ever gonna catch a break?"  
Blacklight merely replied, **Very unlikely**.

( **Author's Note: I have no justification for this being so late. I am truly sorry; I don't want to go in on all the details but just know for quite a few months both me and blitz were having some issues and we also need to reevaluate the story going forward. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and more to come. I can't make a consistent schedule; all I can promise is that I will publish when the chapters are ready. Now let's see the replies.** )

 _(Leader: Thanks for clarifying it and I really don't see if people make a avengers assemble crossover would it still go under earths mightest heros, I mean really if they do then maybe someone should maker a catergory for it even for the non-crossover section, don't you agree.)_

 **(Response: I suppose. Reguardless I am just trying to make a fun story and I will do my best to implement as many marvel, prototype, and infamous ideas I can.)**

 _(KuriMaster13: Yeah, I plan to stick around... when I hit the follow button, I keep following the story, no matter how long the wait between chapters is._

 _Have to say, the Humor in this chapter was pretty good, got to hand it to Hawkeye... and that one random Blackwatch soldier._

 _Huh, so Greylight was made for this story huh? Well it's purpose seems like a logical way to explain the seemingly-infinite Mook army that you probably have to fight through in the game... Prototype is a game right?_

 _Anyway I don't think making the solders some sort of Zombie really changes what Alex did, as he didn't know that when he made his first round of killing them, he thought they were still human, and was fine with it. So I can't really see it as a cop-out to justify those actions. Which is fine I guess, since you didn't intend it to be that. )_

 **(Response: Thanks you have no idea how reassured I am knowing that it doesn't feel like grey light is a cop-out. Hope you enjoy it further down the line.)**

 _(abuseedboy4926: Awesome chapter._

 _Oh dear lord, Infamous is here._

 _My two favorite video game heroes in the same universe._

 _Really hope that Alex and Cole in the future team up. Heck both know what is like to get powers by 'accident' and get framed for mass murder/destruction._

 _That and now you just given me something to look forward...Thor vs Cole._

 _And now after reading that last sentence, the BL Boss looks to be on the same level as Kesseler (given that the boss said he did not want to call him to rush and was going to call as opposed to ordering like a subordinate), making me think that this voice is maybe a future Alex just like Kesseler is future Cole. Both travelling back in time to change their future. Heck, maybe Alex's future is the canon timeline and seeing how he screwed up everything, he wants to make sure his past self does better, which seeing this story, is already working._

 _That and maybe in the future timeline, the original Beast and Pariah joined forces or worse, Pariah consumed Beast and became so powerful that nothing could stop it, and I remeber that in one of the screen shot of future Infamous Kesseler came from, it shows the blood MOON looking like RWBY's moon twin sister.)_


	9. Chapter 8: Advantage to Disadvantage

Chapter 8

 _Thwip! Thwip Thwip!_

Sprinting along the side of a building, Alex hurried to dodge the blobs of webbing being shot at him from an incredibly angry Spider-Man. He ducked into an alleyway and sprinted down another street, hoping to ditch the Wall-Crawler and get back to his base soon. As he attempted to vanish into the darkness, Blacklight questioned him, **Why are you so keen to avoid this person? He has no real weapons to use against us and our powers make us more than a match for him.**

 _I'm avoiding him because I don't like having my time wasted_ , Alex argued. _I've got more important things to do than fight Mr. Web-Head back there._

 **Because Monopoly is such a high priority for you?** , Blacklight deadpanned, to which Alex countered, _Definitely higher than going back and forth with you or the other guy._

Alex looked around before stepping out of the shadows, but to his dismay he found Spider-Man waiting for him. He remarked, "What's the rush, Fashion Disaster? Looking for the nearest tailor so you can get some new threads? I mean I've seen a lot of bad supervillain costumes before, but _you-_ you're not even trying for crying out loud!"

Rushing in and trading punches with the man, Spider-Man continued, "Well that plan might not work out so well since half the people in New York are frigging _zombies because of you_!"

Spider-Man shot a long web at Alex's leg and yanked on it, pulling him to the pavement. With another mighty swing he launched his opponent into the air, going straight after him through a running tackle. Alex landed on his back while he blocked several punches from Spider-Man, though quite a few of them got through anyway.

Alex's aggravation grew to the point where he finally, seriously fought back; a swift kick to Spider-Man's gut knocked him back a few feet and gave his foe some a little breathing room. Blacklight insisted, **You're holding back, I can tell. You could just Consume this idiot now and end the fight immediately. We could stand to gain a little more power.**

Alex replied, _As much as I would love to live in a world where JJJ isn't ranting about him anymore, I'm not going to kill Spider-Man to win. But I_ am _going to end this fight- here and now._

Going on the offensive, Alex charged right for Spider-Man and attempted to tackle him to the ground just as the latter did a moment ago, though Spider-Man leapt out of his way before that could happen. He used the opportunity to shoot another web strand at Alex to try and wrap him up, but Alex merely coiled the webbing around his arm before yanking on it with both hands, pulling Spider-Man in for a flurry of quick punches. Finishing off with his hands clasped together and bringing them down upon Spider-Man's head, slamming him into the pavement.

Alex removed the excess webbing from his arm and backed away, hoping he had dealt a sufficient beating to the would-be hero to stop his crusade. Much to his dismay, the arachnid adventurer got back to his feet moments later, more irate than anything. He taunted his opponent, "That all you got, you pompous pathogenic punk?"

Rather reluctantly, Alex formed his Claws and replied, "Not even close, kid. I suggest you walk away- right now- or I'll do a lot worse than just knock the wind outta you."

Spider-Man's stance made it clear he would not back down, to which Alex merely raised his Claws and waited for his foe to take his next strike. Balling his hands into tight fists, Spider-Man charged right for Alex but ducked to his left, making Alex miss his first swipe and pay for his mistake by getting thrown into the nearest wall. He pulled himself from the crater and resumed combat with Spider-Man, lunging with quick jabs to cut the outfit his unwanted sparring partner wore.

With every attack he managed to get a small cut on Spider-Man's costume which added up over time. Alex continued trading punches for small cuts until the duo moved their fight to the center of the street again, whereupon Spider-Man took a few breaths and yet again taunted Mercer, albeit with heavy breaths, "You... done yet? You're not exactly... winning this fight, y'know."

Alex asserted, "Just you wait…"

The two ran at each other again and traded blows once more; Alex got one more and far longer cut on Spider-Man while he in turn tangled the other in a mess of weaved webs. He tumbled to the ground while Spider-Man, though rather weary, still stood tall and proud as he told Mercer, "Well… I'm still waiting."

Alex just smirked, and soon enough his scheme came to fruition- the majority of Spider-Man's costume fell apart, sending the red-and-blue shreds of what used to be his outfit onto the ground, along with spilling out the items said costume held. Looking down at his naked form and heavily bruised form, Spider-Man blurted, "Oh come on! Seriously!? _This_ was your master plan? I was expecting something just a little more complicated… and nowhere near as childish."

While he remained distracted and distraught with his outfit literally hanging by a few threads, Spider-Man got sucker-punched by an untangled Alex and would have been sent flying if not for Alex then immediately grabbing his mask afterwards. He commented, "Now... let's see who's under that mask, exactly…"

The shock of having his mask removed made Spider-Man remain in place for just a moment as he and Alex stared at each other for a moment. Alex then admitted, "OK… I have no idea who you are. That's… not helpful."

His eyes darted to the ground where the pieces of Spider-Man's costume lay and both he and Spider-Man realized his personal belongings were there amongst the bits of fabric. With his web-shooters exposed yet still intact, Spider-Man shot a strand at his wallet and tried to reel it in, only to be figuratively and literally cut short as Alex's Claw cut the line and snagged the item in one go. Spider-Man ran right for him to wrest the item from his hands, only for him to falter when Alex pulled the ID card out and stated, "This on the other hand _is_!"

Alex glanced at the name printed on it and said aloud, "Peter Parker", causing Peter to stop and stand still. His eye twitched for a moment before he groaned loudly and complained, "I- you just- arrgh! Out of all the supervillains that I've fought, how come _you're_ the one who learns my secret identity!?"

Alex quipped, "Because I keep my personal things more secure than you."

He waved the wallet mockingly before Peter and demanded, "So let me make myself perfectly clear- you leave me alone for good, or I'll out your secret to the entire world. Got it?"  
Sputtering before simply hanging his head low, Peter solemnly nodded and took his wallet and other things back. Lamenting the loss of his costume- and his dignity- he silently walked away but heard Alex inform him, "There's a clothing store just down the street. I doubt they have spare costumes, but they should at least have enough for you to dress up in your civilian identity. They probably got a medical kit in there too- patch yourself up. You look like roadkill."

Peter turned back to ask, "Why would you help me now all of a sudden? I thought we were, y'know, enemies?"

"You attacked me first", Alex insisted. "I wasn't doing anything wrong. I just went out to see what happened in Empire City, and then I went back home until _you_ just _had_ to stick your nose in my business."

Peter continued, "So then… the viral outbreak?"  
"Bottom line?", Alex explained. "Gentek is corrupt; Blackwatch is evil; they screwed me over, so I'm out for revenge."

Peter went to say something but gave a quick cough into his arm before he could speak. He cleared his throat and tried again, stating, "Well… if you say so. Just… try to keep casualties to a minimum, alright?"

Alex walked away, ending their conversation with a curt, "No promises."

With their battle concluded, Peter hurried to the aforementioned clothing store and bandaged himself up before donning a set of civilian clothes, stuffing his mask into one of the back pockets. While walking out of the store, he took inventory of everything that fell out of his pockets. He listed aloud, "Phone, wallet, money, Avengers ID… card. Card, card, where's the-"

Frantically searching the area, Peter blurted, "Where's my Avengers ID!?"

 _Meanwhile…_

 **Who would keep their special hero ID card in their wallet… and their wallet in their costume?** , Blacklight wondered. **And furthermore, how would they even do that? The costume's material was as thin as cotton. Actually, I think it** _ **was**_ **cotton.**

Alex inspected the front of the card, then the back as Blacklight questioned the seemingly flawed logic behind Spider-Man's choices. After placing it in one of his own organic "pockets", Alex concluded, _Well, he's a hero, and since he has this card, it must mean he's connected to the Avengers. Never know when they're gonna call and ask for his help, so he'd have it on him at all times._

 **And it's sewn into the costume, along with everything else that fell out?**

 _He probably has pockets sewn in for all that_ , Alex surmised. _It's not that weird- and we're definitely not ones to talk, what with being able to just shove things through my chest like it's a cupboard or something._

Blacklight replied, **Fair enough. Now then- you should contact Dana and ask her about the card. It could be useful for listening in on the Avengers in case they have something planned.**

 _Good idea_ , Alex agreed. He pulled out his phone and called up his sister, telling her a moment later, "Hey, it's me. You'll never guess who I just fought a few minutes ago."

"Thor? Hulk? The entire Avengers team?", she wondered, giving more absurd answers each time. Alex admitted, "No, just Spider-Man."

"How'd it go?"

"He shot some webs, I gave him a few cuts, sent him home with his pants falling down."

"Really?"  
"No… his pants were shredded to pieces. Pretty much everything, actually, aside from his mask. I swiped his wallet when it fell out and learned his secret identity. I used that as blackmail to keep him off my back. Speaking of which, could you look him up if I gave you his name. I intend to make good on my threat if the situation comes to that."

Alex told Dana to look up "Peter Parker" and waited for her search to yield any results, and she did just that moments later. She informed her brother, "Hmm. He's a photographer for the Daily Bugle. Huh… wait- the Daily Bugle? As in the newspaper company J. Jonah Jameson owns, and the one that's always on about Spider-Man being a menace?"

"Spider-Man works for the man who hates him the most, and he's getting money from him by selling photos of himself", Alex commented. "Wow, that's narcissistic _and_ profitable!"

"Anything else?", Dana prodded him. "You should get back to the base before anyone else finds you."

Alex added, "Uh, oh yeah, I also swiped a card from his wallet too. Apparently he has an Avengers ID card- or _had_ one, anyway. I have no idea what this thing can do, so I thought I'd call you about it before I got back to base."

Dana went silent for a moment before commenting, "That's a smart move- since bringing foreign tech into the base without telling me beforehand would've been a pretty _dumb_ move. I can only assume it has a component inside- maybe even several- that the Avengers can track with."

A second later she added, "Hmm. Lemme see if I can get a lock on your position through the card and figure out what bits can be tracked through it."

Alex nervously waited while Dana worked her magic, and after what felt like ages for her brother she finally told him, "Ah, it's a Stark Industries AutoNav chip. Make sense if Stark was the one who supplied the Avengers with the tech. Just pull that out, crush it, and you'll be all set."

"Uh…", Alex began. "Dana, I don't have the memories of any technicians floating around in my noggin, so I got no idea what you're talking about. Mind dumbing it down for me?"

"Look for a big glowy bit in the card, near the center, I think", Dana explained. Alex slid his fingers along the edges of the card until he stopped at the right half and tugged, pulling away about one-third of the whole thing. From there he could pull out three wires still connected to the separated bit and slide the top half of the main body away, revealing several bits and bobs inside.

Selecting the shiniest piece, Alex tugged on it until it came out, then tossed it away before waiting on Dana to confirm he took the right piece out. Once she did so, Alex put everything back together before stomping on the AutoNav chip, and at which point he found a street corner mailbox to stash the ID card away in. Immediately Alex dashed back into the shadows to avoid even the slimmest possibility that the Avengers were already on their way to find him, and he continued slinking through back alleys to cover his tracks.

Just as he rounded a corner and intended to blend in within the New York Red Zone he found himself in, Alex suddenly found himself bumping into a rather scrawny man in a blue hoodie and purple pants. Backing away, Alex grilled him, "Hey, watch where you're… wait, what are you doing here? This ain't exactly the safest place to wander around in like a Blue Zone is."

"I could ask the same thing of you", the stranger retorted. "I know why I'll be fine here… and I'm betting I can guess why you'd be fine here too."  
Alex simply crossed his arms before the man determined, "You're Alex Mercer."

"And you are…?", Alex asked, to which the stranger replied, "I'm Bruce Banner."

Alex blinked, remained silent for a moment, then wondered, "Should that mean something to me?"

Banner sighed in response. "Oh well. I was hoping that at least a fellow scientist would recognize me. Kinda makes me mad that you don't. And believe me, me being mad is something you wouldn't want."

Alex simply brushed the man off, claiming, "Like I'm gonna know every smart person on the planet."  
Just as soon as he walked past the man, Banner grabbed him by the shoulder and growled, "Alright, now I'm definitely **mad**."

Banner's voice grew deep and animal-like, and in the few seconds Alex had time to connect "scientist" and "mad", the man's hand grew large and green, lifting him by the same hand and turning him around until he came face to face… to the Hulk. The not-so Jolly Green Giant cracked a wicked grin and declared, "Time to _smash…_ "

Alex went, "Shit."

Blacklight went, **Shit**.

 _Meanwhile…_

Flying to New York, Iron Man kept a channel open to converse with his fellow Avengers, along with a connected channel from Blackwatch's Blacknet server, from which Spider-Man told everyone what happened to him a few minutes ago. He began, "So I was just swinging around one of New York's Red Zones and I happened to spot Mercer in the area. I tried to fight him, my costume got clawed to shreds _and_ he stole my wallet. He threatened to expose my secret identity unless I backed off, so he let me go after that. I thought everything was fine but when I checked my wallet, my Avengers ID was missing; he must've stolen it."

"Long story short?", Spider-Man finished. "I got to the nearest Blackwatch base in my civvies- besides my mask- to get the message to Iron Man."

Iron Man took over from there, explaining, "I tracked Spider-Man's ID as soon as I learned about the theft, but the signal vanished not long after that. Still, the area that I narrowed its location down to is small enough for one person to check out, so when the ambulance that's carrying Cole drove by, I had Hulk break off from the escort team to go look. With any luck, he's found Mercer."

He then added, "I'll contact him now to see if he's found anything."

A moment later everyone heard the familiar sounds of Hulk roaring and another, different voice screaming in terror. Iron Man promptly lowered the volume coming in and determined, "Well I'd say that answers that question."  
"Great", Spider-Man commented before coughing and clearing his throat. "So, uh… who's Cole?"

"Not important", the Blackwatch soldier standing by irately informed him. "Radio... _please_."

Spider-Man meekly handed him his radio before walking off, at which point the soldier spoke into it, asking, "Alright, now onto more important questions… so, uh, why don't the Avengers just kill the villains they're fighting? That seems a lot easier than just beating them up, locking them in a prison they'll bust out of later on and repeating the whole cycle."

Iron Man remained silent for a while until he told the soldier, "I'll… get back to you on that."

He then immediately cut the link between Blacknet and the ID card's network before asking everyone, "What is _wrong_ with these people?", and then immediately following that up with, "No, no, I'm seriously asking- does anyone know why these people are so trigger-happy? It's just not professional."

"You're right on the money", Cap agreed. "I've seen good soldiers, and I've seen bad ones. But these people… I've had an uneasy feeling around them ever since they nearly incinerated Mercer after he surrendered."

Wasp suggested, "Maybe the stress is getting to them? They fight plagues and things like this on a regular basis. I'm sure anyone would go a little crazy doing that for so long."

"One problem at a time", Hawkeye insisted, cutting into the conversation. "The sooner we bag Alex, the sooner this crisis will be over and then we never have to deal with Blackwatch again… I hope."

He then wondered, "Hey, how come we need Mercer anyway? If we want a cure for this plague, why can't we just do it ourselves? And by 'we', I obviously mean Stark, JARVIS and Panther. They did it for Red Skull's biological weapon way back when."

JARVIS explained, "The Red Skull's Dust of Death is a deadly, but traditionally designed biological agent meant to induce a specific- and thus predictable- method of killing anyone who inhales it. Whereas Blacklight and Redlight, by their nature, are quite unstable and prone to mutation whenever a new factor is introduced. Regular methods of generating vaccines are useless as both strains would modify themselves to counter the effects after a single dose."  
He concluded, "The only way to generate a reliable cure for infected individuals would be to concoct an entirely new strain capable of adapting to changes faster than the original strains can… and the only person who could possibly achieve that is Alex Mercer himself."

"Which is why we're so adamant about capturing him", Iron Man added. "Besides the whole, y'know, him being a wanted criminal responsible for a horrible viral outbreak and everything. Anyway, I'm heading for wherever the Hulk found Alex to lend a hand. If anyone else can reach our location, do it now. We need all the help we can get to take this guy down the right way. Avengers- _assemble_!"

 _Meanwhile…_

" **RAAGHAARHAH!** "

With a fury and rage only a being like the Hulk could unleash, he slammed Alex into the ground like a sadistic child with a helpless ragdoll, repeatedly burying his face into the road until it made an increasingly deep crater. Alex could do nothing to get out of the situation- frantically slashing at the Hulk with his Claws barely broke the green goliath's skin, and even then his healing factor fixed the minimal damage right back to normal. So at the nonexistent mercy of the "strongest there is", Alex desperately looked for any way out of his predicament.

As he flailed around, Blacklight repeated in his head, **Claws! Stab! Stab with the Claws!**

 _I am, you idiot!_ , Alex bellowed back. _They're not doing anything!_  
 **No, I mean stab them into the concrete** , Blacklight elaborated. Alex asked, _And what's that supposed to do? The Hulk will just pull me out like all the other times!  
_ Blacklight insisted, _Just trust me!_

Alex just grumbled and waited for the moment to come when the Hulk would slam him into the ground again, whereupon he pointed his Claws straight down. They pierced the gravel and stone below him, though to Alex's surprise he did not feel them stop at any point. His confusion extended to the Hulk as well, as when he attempted to hoist his punching bag into the air again, Alex's arm stretched to an absurd length, yet he still felt the tips of his Claws penetrating the ground even then.

Hulk brought Alex up to eye level and snarled at him, wondering what his foe had planned. Suddenly the ground shook beneath them and broke apart- several spikes of solid biomass burst forth from the concrete and stabbed the Hulk in the foot. He roared in pain and dropped Alex, at which point he broke his arm's connection to the spikes to get away as quickly as possible. But despite the spike jutting through the Hulk's foot and making him sit down to painfully remove it, the reprieve would not last long enough for Alex to save himself.

With great effort the Hulk pulled the biomass spike out from his foot and allowed it to slowly heal, and with his rage intensified to new levels, he launched the spike like a spear through the air at Alex. Moments after throwing it, he clapped his hands together to produce a shockwave strong enough to accelerate the spike's velocity, impaling Alex with extreme prejudice and sending him soaring into the nearest vertical surface. The impact produced several cracks in the wall and left Alex completely stuck for the time being.

Alex coughed up a blob of biomass and spat it on the ground, grunting, "Agh… that hurt. A lot."

He looked up to see Hulk charging straight at him with his arms reaching for him, so Alex frantically tried pulling himself from the wall without actually thinking. A moment later it dawned on him that he could simply reabsorb the biometal pinning him in place and did just so before leaping into the air, vaulting over the Hulk with mere seconds to spare. Summoning his Claws again, he jumped at the green giant to slash him in the face.

The Hulk caught one Alex's Claws before it could truly harm him, but he failed to factor in Alex forcing the tips to grow long enough to jab Hulk right in his face. It did very little physical damage to him, but worked well enough to stun him for a few seconds and provide his opponent a little more time to escape. As soon as Hulk let go of Alex to rub his eyes, the latter turned around and bolted for the nearest building to scale up.

Upon clearing his sight, the Hulk watched Alex making a break for it and stomped his foot into the ground in response, generating a shockwave through the concrete that sent Alex tumbling through the air. At the same time, Hulk launched himself into the air to tackle Alex, tackling him mid-fall to resume his pummeling. He smashed Alex into just about everything within swinging distance- a nearby car, a light pole, a sewer grate- and made sure to never hit him in the same place twice to prevent Alex from using his Claws to anchor himself in place a second time.

Over and over again did the Hulk decimate the surroundings area using Alex as his personal toy, breaking his body and face into new shapes before Blacklight hurriedly fixed everything. The constant carnage and cracking of biomass-formed bones caused Alex to grit his teeth and convulse- something about him began to physically change, bit by bit. When the penultimate strike came, the new transformation rippled throughout his body, granting him a new power.

Alex prepared to summon his new ability and… the Hulk smashed him into the dirt one final time. Forming the largest crater yet, the Hulk observed his foe's motionless body for a little while before believing his work to have finished, at which point he let go and walked out of the crater. Pulling out his ID card, Hulk contacted his team, informing them, "This is Hulk. Just fought Mercer- not much of a fight though. I'll be here until..."

In the seconds following Hulk turning his back on Alex, the latter dared to open an eye to ensure the former did not notice him, at which point he got back up, dusted himself off and launched himself straight up into the sky. He jumped up as light as a feather- and then came back down like a bowling ball as soon as he summoned his newest power. By the time the Hulk noticed Alex above him, he did not even have a moment to block the incoming attack.

Compared to the crater Alex made upon contact with the Hulk, the crater Hulk made with Alex appeared like a minor dent. The sheer physical force shook the earth and formed dozens of deep cracks running from the inception point all the way to the nearby buildings and beyond, in turn collapsing some of the smaller buildings nearby. When the dust finally settled and Alex saw the devastation, he surveyed the damage and could not help but smirk.

Just then the Hulk pulled himself from the rubble- still holding his ID card- and craned his neck, adding, "OK, gimme another five minutes. _Then_ I'll be done."

Slipping his card back into his pocket, Hulk cracked his knuckles and raised both his fists, slamming them both down while Alex blocked both with a single oversized fist. The attack and defense combined simply deepened the crater even further, and neither side came even close to finished. Punches and blocks were traded repeatedly, sending them further into the ground. Eventually Alex traded his new weapon for his old Claws, trading the previously strong blows for a single feeble, weak scratch.

Hulk pulled his arms back and wickedly grinned at Mercer, asking him, "What's the matter? Can't-"

He did not get another word in as Alex immediately switched back to his massive arms, delivering an impressive punch right up the Hulk's face with the precious seconds his fake-out bought him. The blow sent him skyward while Alex changed back to normal hands and jumped high to follow him. Swapping back to the fists right when Hulk came within hitting range again, Alex smacked him horizontally instead of vertically, shooting him all the way into the horizon and out of visual range.

Alex landed back on the ground and watched the Hulk become nothing but a shrinking dot in the distance, declaring, "Not much of a fight, eh? How about _now_?"

He suddenly lost his footing and fell to his knees, unaccustomed to the bulk on his arms. Steadying himself and using the sheer size of arms as leverage, Alex stood back up before inspecting his new power. Blacklight stated, **That was an admittedly hamfisted form of combat, but nevertheless, I believe these will prove useful in the future.**

Alex shook his head. _Nah, not hamfist-_ Hammer _fist._

 **Really?** , Blacklight commented. **You're officially naming them 'Hammerfists' all because you could make a pun out of my words?**

 _Do you have a better suggestion?_ , Alex shot back, to which Blacklight replied, **No. Fine.**

Switching back to normal hands, Alex could not help but chuckle when he stated, "Heh. I just beat the Hulk. Dana's never gonna believe thi-"

A repulsor blast knocked him away mid-sentence and tumbled backwards a few times, and when he regained his footing Alex saw Iron Man hovering above him. While Alex picked himself back up for the umpteenth time, Iron Man informed everyone, "I've found Mercer; Hulk's not here though."

He crossed his arms and told Alex, "Alright- so you managed to duke it out with Hulk and outlast him. So let's see just how well you do against the _rest of us!_ "  
Alex immediately jumped into the air and summoned his Claws, delivering a series of slashes against Iron Man's armor that left deep cuts into the alloy. Before Alex could do anything more, Iron Man pointed his repulsors towards him to blast him away, admitting, "Alright, that was a pretty good start. Ow."

Landing on the ground, Alex glanced around and saw no one to stop him from getting away this time, so he ran for the nearest sewer grate to sneak into the shadows once more. Just as he got close to one though, an arrow from the sky landed on it and exploded in a mass of solidifying goo. Alex looked up to see Hawkeye on his Sky-Cycle, at which point the latter told him, "Not this time, dirtbag."

Scowling, Alex jumped up onto the vehicle and managed to kick Hawkeye off it, intending to fly away instead. He managed to work the controls and flew past the next few buildings before a new bolt of energy blew out the engine and forced him to make a sudden crash landing. Alex hopped off the Sky-Cycle just before it could engulf him in the ensuing fireball and landed on top of a building, finding himself against Miss Marvel now.

"I said I was gonna 'take out the trash' before", she declared, "and dang it, that's what I'm gonna do!"

She unleashed another full blast of energy that Alex tried to block by holding up his Hammerfists, though their weight only succeeded in keeping him from being blown from the rooftop. He switched back to his normal hands and zig-zagged to Miss Marvel, trading blow for blow until she got in a flurry of quick punches. Alex changed back to his Hammerfists once more and tried to take a swing at her, only for a narrow miss to turn into something else entirely.

The raw weight and power behind his failed sucker punch did not just drag him forward, but in fact threw him from the building and arced through the air, bringing the rest of Alex along for the ride. His other three limbs scrambled furiously for stability as his arm pulled him across a few city blocks before finally reaching the ground again in an enormous shockwave of destruction. Alex himself came out of the wreckage none worse for the wear, more surprised and exhilarated by the event than harmed.

Using it to his advantage, Alex took a running start, swung his Hammerfist and went soaring the skies once more, now able to mostly control where he would land. It enabled him to clear entire city blocks with ease and quickly evade the majority of the Avengers… until a familiar face blindsided him from his right. Roaring with newfound rage, the Hulk slammed into Alex and held onto him with enough force to shatter his spine, wasting no time as he tore off the Hammerfist with the rest of Alex's arm.

Crushing his head with his hand, the Hulk sent Alex into the ground face first, doing so repeatedly before kicking him away like a football. Alex immediately made a new arm and tried to get back up, but the Hulk did not let up for even a second as he continually tore away Alex's limbs as quickly as he could remake them. By the time the other Avengers came onto the scene, they found Alex fighting a losing battle with the Hulk, weakening with every piece of himself torn away.

They went to the Hulk's side and laid down additional fire- arrows and vibranium daggers flying, energy beams of all types hitting Alex from every which way- everyone unleashing everything they had to take him down once and for all. With the raw power they used against him, Alex's body strained from the pressure, and from that he could feel another ability of his own emerge in response. Unlike the Hammerfists or Claws, this unusual change gave him an unknown cause for concern, but without any other options, he simply went with it.

Wasp blurted, "What's- he- doing!?"

Alex's entire body rippled with anticipation, the strangeness brewing inside him with growing force, until eventually it erupted from him- literally. With an anguished roar, Alex released hundreds of hardened biomass tendrils from his body going everywhere, all of them hitting an Avenger at least once. The remainder dug through the concrete, nearby buildings and everything within a one-hundred foot radius around him- almost a literal sphere of destruction decimating everything it touched before retracting back into himself.

When the dust settled and Alex found himself the last man standing, he swayed on his feet and mumbled, "Ye-yeah… take… take that…", before passing out. Despite his desperation winning out against the others, an unconscious Alex could do nothing against the arrival of SHIELD's forces and Blackwatch's soldiers. They locked him in a pod as the rest tended to the wounded heroes, taking them back to the base camp just outside the city for rest and healing.

Nick Fury himself watched the situation play out on a nearby rooftop, informing his agents, "Bring Mercer to a secure facility, but be prepared to move him if need be. Also, monitor Iron Man specifically; once he's up and about, tell him I want a meeting. We've got some serious work ahead of us..."

 _Meanwhile…_

From an undisclosed location, far from prying eyes, an individual sat at his throne and watched everything unfold- not just the battle between Alex and the Avengers, but any and all events relevant to his interests. Wires protruded from his body and ran down to a multitude of computers discreetly hooked into the systems and networks in the city above, granting him nearly omniscient view of everything. Once SHIELD had Alex put into a pod and moved him beyond the city limits, the individual ceased his watching to summon his minion.

"Jocasta…", he commanded. "Step forward."

"Yes, my lord?", Jocasta asked, appearing from the shadows to the platform on which the other figure sat. He turned his head and instructed her, "I am uploading data regarding an individual known as 'Alex Mercer'. His genetics have been modified by a biological virus of his own creation- Blacklight. The same virus is ravaging portions of New York's population. If it is not cured, then it will eradicate all life in the surrounding area."

"And… what is your desire?", Jocasta continued, to which her master stated, "I want you to follow Mercer's whereabouts, determine his final destination, and retrieve him once he is no longer on the move. Eliminate any and all opposition you encounter."

The figure concluded, "Bring him to me."

Jocasta solemnly nodded, vanishing into the shadows just as eerily as she had first appeared. With her gone, the figure looked at the images playing throughout his mind and declared, "Soon the Age of Humanity will fall… and the Age of Ultron… will _begin_."

 **(Author's Note: Hey guys Me and BlitzKing felt so bad for putting the last chapter off for so long so we decided to get the next chapter out as fast and as a high quality as we could. Hope you all enjoyed it.)**

 **(Before anyone asks yes Alex was taken down but there is some reasoning behind that. Simply put he used it when he didn't have critical mass like he did in the original game so it put too much strain in his body which caused him be knocked out by his own power. And no, this isn't the end of his story. It's just getting started. :) Now onto the responses.)**

 _(KuriMaster13: No Problem. Hmm, nice. :) Ah, good old Triple J shows his head... an insult a Spidey thrown confirms that it is him but otherwise some solid points. Though now I wonder what Spidey is up to in this story.)_

 **(Response: I wanted to make sure to still keep J Jonah Jameson to be the hilarious hardass he is that hates spiderman, but he is still a reporter with so much fury that no is spared from his criticism.)**

 _(Leader: And here thought you were dead, welcome back old friend and do please don't go dead again.)_

 **(Response: Glad to be back. It warms my heart to find new followers, favorites, and reviews everyday.)**

 _(Hotshot6: First Prototype and the Avengers EMH show, now Infamous. The question is, is Deslin gonna be able to absorb other powers besides the Conduit ones when he inevitably shows up. I love that guy so here's hoping. Only one man can shout at Alex with such rage that you can practically feel the Murder Boner just by reading it. James Heller is here to kick some ass, who's ass gets kicked depends on what variables shows up. My bets on Alex, then the Avengers, then Kessler and our mystery boss.)_

 **(Response: Admittedly when I read this I had no idea who you were talking about until I had to google him until I found out it was the protagonist of Infamous second son. So because I didn't know who he was until I read this I didn't have any plans for him. But thanks for bringing this character to my attention so I can figure out if he can fit in someway later in the story. As for heller, sorry no spoilers.)**

 _(Greer123: Interesting choice adding the Infamous game university to this story as well since both the Prototype and Infamous game series are often compared to one another.)_

 **(Response: LOL, I am pretty sure you meant universe, but yes. They are always put against each other and both can actually play off each other pretty well and infamous felt like a natural and crazy extra factor to add the story. Just to give a little extra spice.)**

 _(StoneTheLoner: I feel like the retcon was unnecessary. If anything adding the super soldier serum seems like it would limit the virus rather than strengthen it. It's specifically for human dna, not any of the other species Alex could get his hands on. But more importantly he's not even going to be a human or have traditionally human cells so what good is it going to do? Also also, the entire point of the virus is to evolve and become better so even if it does help at first, ALL it's doing is saving Alex a week or two on something it already could've done itself. Improve._

 _This feels like a classic case of adding something meant to make it cooler but only making things more problematic. As if human cells at their peak have anything on the upper limit of Blacklight. The serum is a backslide compared to what it's theoretically capable of.)_

 **(Reponse: No one has any real idea how Redlight and by extension Blacklight was made and considering how many people in marvel have been trying to replicate the super soldier serum that made Captain America who he is, it felt like a natural element to implement AND it is meant to be a explanation how in this version of Alex can still have his memories. I hope this cleared things up and to anyone else who missed that.)**

 _(Guest Isa: This definitely has my interest. Good Earth's Mightiest Heroes fics are so hard to find these days. They should've kept the show running instead of Avengers Assemble._

 _I dunno about the Mercers but you got all the Avengers characters in character, kudos, I don't know many authors who've done that. Cross isn't gonna keep talking smack to the Avengers is he? Don't want him to come across as too perfect._

 _You even managed to get certain details like the Mandroids and how Tony is still upset about them. That's the sign of a writer who takes his work seriously._

 _So you've brought Cole McGrath into the mix, looking forward to how that plays out, but I'm just glad you didn't make Cole another fugitive. The Avengers clearly see he's another victim, but unlike with Mercer Cole doesn't really need to eat people. With them around they can probably help him, or at least Thor or possibly Ms. Marvel._

 _To say nothing of how Tony and Panther will probably examine him, figure out what's what._

 _So are Kessler and the Beast playing roles in this as well? I imagine it would take the Avengers to stop the Beast conventionally without that Anti-Conduit Bomb; THAT has the potential to screw everything up, would the Mutants be effected ala the House of M? Plus there's Heller and when Mercer goes apeshit in Prototype 2._

 _I suspect Mercer may eventually team up with the Avengers and Cole, or else you wouldn't have had "Viral Avenger" as a title, right? Or is that role reserved for Heller, I wonder?_

 _But don't count the Avengers out, huh? Thor and Hulk in particular; Let's not forget Thor caught and slowed down the fall of the island of Manhattan (or a good chunk of it) after Graviton dropped it; Hulk fights on par with Thor and sometimes bests him (debatable); Vision can maximize his weight to 500 tons; Ms. Marvel can absorb an energy attack from Galactus. Not to bash on Cole or Alex, just keep all that in mind._

 _Either way, I'm quite eager to see where you take this fic and how long you manage to keep it up._

 _PLEASE DO, like I said, not enough good EMH fics!)_

 **(Reponse: Wow this is a big one! I get really excited for these ones. I will try to answer each one In order**

 **Agreed they shouldn't have canceled it and I am glad that the story despite starting this early is already considered one of the best EMH fanfictions.**

 **He hasn't been in the story that much and hasn't really done anything besides calling out thor's crap on technology. You can't tell me that isn't deserved. He will remain a side character but an important one. I will make sure that he doesn't steal the spotlight.**

 **Both me and BlitzKing rewatched the entire series and made sure to not overlook even the tiniest detail. And thanks, really both me and BlitzKing are really passionate about this and we have done an ungodly amount of research and discussion.**

 **Yep, I have a lot of plans for both Cole and Alex, but I can't say much. Spoilers. But I hope you like what we have planned.**

 **Now that is something that will be quite interesting.**

 **Again, can't say much, although I am unfamiliar with the house of M, but I will look into it and see if we can figure something out with our future plans for the story if we can keep this up.**

 **Sorry, but no Spoilers.**

 **Thanks for the reminder that is more of help then your realize. It's always good to have reminders like this.**

 **Will do**

 **I just said I will. I can't promise my schedule will be perfect, but I won't give it up easy.)**

 **(Well that's everything. I hope you all enjoyed and will see you in the next chapter. Have a great day.)**


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